The U.S. Navy’s shortfall of high-demand Boeing [BA] F/A-18E/F Super Hornets has grown to more than 100 fighter jets, roughly triple the figure the service cited just two years ago, according to a key lawmaker.
In 2015, the Navy told Congress that it needed three more Super Hornet squadrons, or about 36 planes, said Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee’s tactical air and land forces panel. “However, as a result of increasing demand and operational use, combined with continuing resolutions and budget constraints, we understand the shortfall has now grown to over 100 aircraft,” Turner said at a hearing on naval aviation March 28.
Congress and the Department of Defense have taken steps to buy more Super Hornets. The fiscal year 2017 defense appropriations conference report, which has passed the House and is pending in the Senate, would fund 14 F/A-18E/Fs. In addition, DoD’s recently unveiled FY 2017 budget amendment request includes an additional 24 Super Hornets, which Turner endorsed. But those measures would address only part of the shortfall.
“What we need to do is buy airplanes,” said Rear Adm. Dewolfe “Chip” Miller III, director of the Navy’s air warfare division, who testified before Turner’s panel. “I expect that we need to be buying airplanes – F/A-18s and F-35s – throughout” the five-year future years defense program.
Miller said the Super Hornet shortfall has grown because the Navy is not replacing aging fighters quickly enough. He said an upcoming service life extension program for existing Super Hornets will temporarily sideline about 60 to 70 fighters at a time, contributing to the shortfall. The program, which will start inducting aircraft in the early 2020s, will extend those planes to 9,000 flight hours, up from 6,000 hours.
“Due to high utilization rates, the F/A-18E/F fleet has flown approximately 47 percent of the total flight hours available within the 6,000-hour limit design life,” according to a joint statement from Miller and two other hearing witnesses. ”The remaining fleet flight hour capacity will be inadequate to meet operational commitments out to the 2040s.”