Farnborough 2008 Show News - July 15, 2008 - (Page 60) FA R N B O R O U G H 2 0 0 8 Boeing Tactical Fighters: St. Louis Success Story At Boeing’s St. Louis facility the production lines are still filled with Eagles and Super Hornets. Buoyed by export sales and steady demand at home, Boeing has maintained a fighter technology base that allows it to compete on two fronts over the coming decades. Thanks to a worldwide fleet of nearly 1,200 Eagles flying in five nations (soon to be six) Boeing is looking at several major upgrade programs and the sale of between 100 and 200 new aircraft. With orders for more than 500 Super Hornets and Growlers now secured Boeing is aggressively promoting those aircraft at home and abroad. Potential future export customers include India, Kuwait, Qatar and Brazil, with a strong possibility that Australia intends to add to its 24 F/A-18Fs—and perhaps become an EA-18G Growler customer also. Boeing intends to bid both the Eagle and the Super Hornet for Japan’s F-4 replacement program. “The customer has asked for a competition,” says Dave Schweppe, Boeing’s director, business development, Global Strike Systems, “and while we need to see the RFP first, our plan is to submit two bids.” Schweppe also points to substantial cost reductions in the price of a Super Hornet over the life of the program to date. If the U.S. contracts a third multi-year Super Hornet buy (MYPIII) Boeing is promising a unit price of just $49.9 million. LRIP 1 aircraft cost $82 million each. Program manager Mike Gibbons Boeing EA-18G Growler may be bought by Australia. acquire 50-60 new fighters to succeed them. An RFP is expected towards the end of this year. Boeing will offer a configuration based on the AESA-equipped F-15SG, with provision for national ries about the structural condition of the F-15C/D force—following the catastrophic midair break-up of one jet in November 2007— have been assuaged for the time being. Following inspections, only six F-15s were withdrawn from USAF use. A Fleet Viability Board is now tearing down one aircraft, for a piece-by-piece assessment of its fatigue state. The USAF has also decided on A Pair of F/A-18E Super Hornet jets. F-15 Eagle: Still Selling The rollout of the first of 24 F-15SG Eagles for Singapore this month is a reminder of Boeing’s dominance in recent international fighter sales. Important wins in Korea and Singapore ensured the St. Louis line will stay ‘hot’ until the second half of 2012. This keeps Boeing firmly in the running for potential new orders from Japan, Korea and Saudi Arabia. More than half of the 61 F-15Ks ordered by South Korea have now been delivered. The company sees a ROKAF requirement for as many as 60 additional aircraft to completely replace its remaining F-4 Phantoms. An enhanced F-15K+ proposal is on the drawing board that improves on Korea’s current F-15Ks, which lack AESA radars and other systems. Japan too is finally retiring its F-4 Phantoms and is expected to 60 Japanese systems such as Boeing F-15K, for Korea. radios and datalinks. Boeing says its proposal will continue to “sustain Japan’s fighter production an upgrade plan for its F-15E industrial base”—where Mitsubishi Strike Eagles, to keep 224 in service previously built 204 F-15Js. until 2035 and beyond. In NovemProspects remain for the sale of ber 2007 Raytheon was selected to new aircraft to Saudi Arabia, per- deliver the Radar Modernization haps by 2009. Boeing is predicting Program (RMP) for the F-15E, the acquisition of between 36 and adding a new AESA radar that 72 F-15s, despite the Royal Saudi incorporates the back-end of the Air Force’s ongoing Eurofighter Super Hornet’s APG-79. A final Typhoon program. contract for the RMP is expected soon. The new radar should provide Upgrades transform the fleet near simultaneous air-to-air and airUpgrades to existing F-15s have to surface modes with increased become increasingly important. ranges, and precise GMTI. The U.S. Air Force has two such efforts now underway. A total of F/A-18E/F Super Hornet: 155 F-15C/Ds will be modified to Growing in Confidence ‘Golden Eagle’ standard to supple- With the first front-line aircraft ment the much-reduced F-22 fleet. now deployed with an operational Fitted with Raytheon’s APG-63(V)3 Navy Air Wing, Boeing is touting AESA radar the Golden Eagles will the advantages of its full-standard stay flying until 2025, at least. Wor- Block II F/A-18E/F Super Hornets. adds, “The U.S. Navy has a big concern to bridge the JSF gap. The Block 3 F-35C will not be available until 2016. There is a ‘strike fighter shortfall’ for the Navy and an ‘electronic attack shortfall’ for the Navy, Marines and Air Force.” Under the current multi-year production deal (MYPII) Boeing is building about 42 Super Hornets per year, but international sales will increase that figure and Boeing thinks the Navy may also boost its numbers. The current order book stands at 493 F/A-18E/Fs and 85 EA-18Gs for the U.S. and 24 F/A-18Fs for Australia. The Growler fleet of 85 jets does not include any provision for the Marines or the Air Force, both of which have an urgent need for a similar electronic warfare capability. —Robert Hewson July 15, 2008 www.aviationweek.com/shownews http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews
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