19-02-2016, 21:11
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חבר מתאריך: 13.11.04
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The U.S. Navy Struggles to Keep Hornets Flying While the F-35 Stalls
http://www.popularmechanics.com/mil...ighters-flying/
Faced with delays in the adoption of the F-35, the U.S. Navy is trying to keep F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet fighters flying until replacements arrive. According to Military Times, the service is stretching the lifespan of existing planes, keeping them in the air far longer than originally planned.
The U.S. Navy's F/A-18C Hornets comprise half of the fighter force on a typical Nimitz-class aircraft carrier. These older Hornets, known as "legacy Hornets" to differentiate them from the Super Hornet, were only meant to fly an average 6,000 hours.
Generally speaking, this works out to about 20 years of peacetime flying. The problem? Most of the "legacy Hornets" were bought in the 1980s, making them roughly 30 years old. The period from 1991 to 2015 also have seen a higher operating tempo than expected, with an nearly continuous stream of wars, peacekeeping missions, no-fly zones, and punitive actions requiring air power.
The Navy plans to replace legacy Hornets with the carrier version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter—a process that should have started three years ago. The Navy was originally supposed to declare the F-35C ready for combat in 2012.
Unfortunately, the F-35 is running the better part of a decade behind schedule, and Initial Operating Capability, as the combat ready status is known, has been pushed that back to 2018 or even 2019.
2-star: F-35 delays could force further extension of Super Hornets
http://www.navytimes.com/story/mili...rnets/75291560/
Joint strike fighter delays may force the carrier Navy to fly F/A-18 Super Hornets even longer into coming decades, a predicament that could reduce training hours and strain airframes.
Plans have been in the works to retire the F/A-18C Hornets in the mid-2020s, followed by the F/A-18E and F Super Hornets around 2035, but the consistently delayed development of the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter has compelled the service to push the Hornets past their planned service lives. The dilemma raises the possibility that Super Hornets new to the fleet may still be flying in three decades.
"We might even fly these airplanes close to 2040," air warfare director Rear Adm. Mike Manazir told members of the House Armed Services subcommittee on seapower on Tuesday.
The most expensive acquisition program in Defense Department history is not coming online fast enough to replace the fleet's F/A-18 strike fighters, which have spent more than a decade as warhorses in current conflicts.
"As I think about the continuity of strike fighter inventory management, I have to consider the idea that — just like the F/A-18C, which we had planned to sundown at 6,000 hours and now we're extending to 10,000 hours — that appl[ies] to the Super Hornet," Manazir told Navy Times in a Friday phone interview.
F-35 Shortfall Forces the Navy to Buy More F-18s
http://www.popularmechanics.com/mil...dget-f-18-f-35/
Arguing that they face a wide spectrum of threats, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps will buy nearly as many aircraft as the Air Force in 2017, plus more than half a dozen large combatant ships. The Sea Services are requesting $152.9 billion in funding for the coming year, $7 billion less than they received in 2016.
In a budget presentation uploaded by U.S. Naval Institute News, the service identifies five threats it is working to counter: China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, and the Islamic State. The five compose a broad spectrum of threats, with China and Russia at the high end, North Korea and Iran in the middle representing more limited threats, and at the low end, the slow heartburn of the Islamic State.
The Navy's budget request reflects the spectrum. Nuclear submarines, P-8A Poseidon patrol planes, and the F-35C Joint Strike Fighter are needed to deter or fight the advanced threats. Guided missile destroyers can shooting down North Korean and Iranian ballistic missiles, while amphibious assault ships, helicopters, and drones are useful in chasing down ISIS. |
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