The Navy awarded Boeing [BA] a $1.5 billion contract to build and deliver 26 F/A-18 Super Hornets to Kuwait, the Defense Department said on June 27.
Under the contract, Boeing will provide 22 F/A-18E single seat aircraft and six F/A-18F two seaters.
Almost 70 percent of the work will be split between El Segundo, Calif., and Hazelwood, Mo. The remaining work will largely be finished in various locations in the U.S. The work is expected to be finished by Jan. 2021.
In April, the Navy awarded Boeing a $1.2 billion undefinitized contract for the long-lead engineering needed to develop the baseline configuration to build and deliver these Super Hornets.
Back in 2016, the State Department approved the initial plan to sell 40 Super Hornets to Kuwait for up to $10.1 billion.
More recently, at a press event this past May, Dan Gillian, Boeing vice president for the Super Hornet and Growler programs, said these aircraft will serve as a bridge between Super Hornet deliveries to the Navy in 2018 and the upgraded Block III Super Hornets, planned to start deliveries in late 2020.
Gillian said when these Super Hornets are delivered they “will be the most advanced Super Hornets ever delivered.” Although he did not disclose specific features shared with the Block III Super Hornet, he said “they fit in perfectly with the Block III.”