Navy Defends Aviation OrdersJune 02, 2009
 The Navy's top officer faced a barrage of questions about the service's decision to cut purchases of F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets. Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, told a Senate Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee in early June that the Navy made a budgeting decision to buy nine fewer F/A-18s than previously planned, the Navy Times reported. "We are stretched in our obligations to meet our demands," Roughead said. He added that he strongly supported the plane's successor, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter being developed by Lockheed Martin. But Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., questioned the decision to underfund the Super Hornet and called the successor to the F/A the "Joint Strike Failure." Boeing's McDonnell division's factory building the F/A is based in Bond's home state. U.S. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway responded that he was pleased with the development of the F-35B. The initial schedule for the first vertical flight has been delayed “six or seven months -- [it’s] going to happen this fall,” Conway told reporters after the hearing, the Navy Times reported. “But the most recent information we have out of Fort Worth is that the engine is developing even more power than we thought it might for vertical lift, so we’re encouraged by what we hear.” Lockheed Martin will produce three versions of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The Air Force is buying the F-35A conventional version; the Marines have ordered a version that has short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing (STOVL) capabilities. The Navy has requested four examples of its F-35C carrier version in its current budget request. The carrier version will be ready for action in 2015. That is about the time when the existing Hornet fleet will be wearing out and it's too late to have replacements in place, creating what is called a "fighter gap." (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Aaron Allmon (released)) |
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