The Navy is concerned about risk in its program to extend the life of F/A-18 A through D Hornet fighters so its F/A-18E/ F models don’t age as quickly, the Chief of Naval Operations told a Senate panel on Wednesday.
Adm. Jonathan Greenert said the sea service is transitioning from the legacy Hornet fleet to the Super Hornets. A plan formed three years ago would retain some of the older Hornets by extending their life through depot work.
The Hornets and Super Hornets are built by Boeing [BA], and slated for replacement by the 
- F/A-18 Hornet
Photo: Boeing
Lockheed Martin [LMT]-built Joint Strike Fighter–for the Navy, the F-35C.
The legacy Hornets were built to fly 6,000 hours, but “they’re well beyond that,” Greenert told the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing on the fiscal year 2016 Navy and Marine budget. “We are trying to get them out to 10,000 hours.”
Unexpected risk came to the depot work, Greenert said. For example, more corrosion was found than expected and the work was more complicated, so it takes longer.
“We assumed the depots would all be open with skilled workers,” he said.
On top of the expanded work, the 2013 sequestration kicked in, slowing work at the depots, which meant the jets didn’t go through the depots and back out to the fleet as quickly as planned.
What it all means, Greenert told Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), is that with fewer older Hornets available, Super Hornets are flying more, burning through hours quicker than expected.
There also are risks to extending the hours on the legacy Hornets, he said. Some of that risk the sea service has taken is in aircraft procurement.
“We have a shortfall in Super Hornets,” Greenert said. Should the Navy have bought more of the jets? It was a budget decision, he said, part of balancing tactical air with other requirements.
Greenert told Blunt the shortfall could be in the neighborhood of two to three squadrons, but that question is currently unresolved.
The A-D Hornet models represent about 20 percent of the fleet, Greenert said, while the Super Hornet represents 80 percent.
“As we look out into the future, we say we’re using these (Super Hornets) up more than we thought,” he said. “We have to look out ahead to the hours on the Super Hornet because it’s a piece of our strike fighter package, our enterprise, out into the 2020s, 2030s as we bring in the Joint Strike Fighter.”
Greenert told House defense appropriators late last month one option the Navy is considering is buying more Super Hornets, if it hasn’t bought enough F-35C aircraft. The service cut its buy to save money.
And the Joint Strike Fighter program has had its struggles, to include slowing production, which could mean the jets could take longer to get to the Navy. The plan now is for initial operations for the F-35C jets in 2019.
“Here’s the conundrum,” Greenert said. “Can we get these legacy Hornets out and on time so that we don’t wear out Super Hornets prematurely?”
Greenert expects more clarity on the Hornet question in what he estimates is a 15-month period. Thus, the questions will be on the next CNO’s plate after he retires later this year.
Work on the legacy Hornets is picking up speed moving through the depot, but that could come into question again if sequestration kicks back in.
The Navy can work through a certain number of shortfalls. “We’ve done this before,” he said.
“The question remains, as we work through this legacy piece, how many hours are we using upon the Super Hornet that we didn’t intend,” Greenert said.