"US Navy plans SLEP for Super Hornet fleet" Topic

"The US Navy intends to launch a service life extension programme (SLEP) for its fleet of Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet combat aircraft, a notice posted on the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) website reveals.

The notice, which was originally published by the The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) on 19 January and updated on 1 February, is for Boeing to undertake a SLEP of the F/A-18E/F aft fuselage to extend the life of the aircraft upwards from the current 6,000 hours.

NAVAIR revealed no details pertaining to the number of aircraft involved, the extent of the increase in the service life of the aircraft, timelines, or contract values. Neither did the notification say whether the effort would be extended to international operators, which are currently limited to Australia but expected to include Kuwait shortly…."
Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

"The US Navy intends to launch a service life extension programme (SLEP) for its fleet of Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet combat aircraft, a notice posted on the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) website reveals.

The notice, which was originally published by the The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) on 19 January and updated on 1 February, is for Boeing to undertake a SLEP of the F/A-18E/F aft fuselage to extend the life of the aircraft upwards from the current 6,000 hours.

NAVAIR revealed no details pertaining to the number of aircraft involved, the extent of the increase in the service life of the aircraft, timelines, or contract values. Neither did the notification say whether the effort would be extended to international operators, which are currently limited to Australia but expected to include Kuwait shortly…."
Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

Probably a good idea.

Even better would be to stop using such expensive aircraft, which we have very limited numbers of, against stone age militants with rifles.

It's time for the Pentagon to get with the program, and realize that not only are we involved in a military conflict, but also an economic war, so they need to be a bit more mindful of the costs of the weapons and tactics they use to fight our enemies.

1980s era Sci-Fi authors were able to figure this out, but apparently not overpaid generals and admirals.

The drones are coming….

Yes…

Amicalement
Armand

Mako, you fight a war with what you have. Designing and building a whole new aircraft is rather expensive, and a COIN bird is virtually worthless outside of COIN missions. Put an AC130 gunship over a European battlefield, see how long it lasts.

The problem the US is having is a lack of political will. Start sending Arc Light strikes to drop a 2000lb bomb on everything flying the Black Flag of DAESH and I'd bet there would be a lot less DAESH bags in the future.

agreed

Most of our wars are now COIN ones, so……

We used to have birds specifically geared toward COIN missions, like the A-1 Skyraider and A-37 Dragonfly. It's overkill and not cost effective to send fast jets to bomb scattered insurgents and technicals, many of which return with full unexpended ordnance load.

It doesn't cost much for us to add a few Embraer Super Tucanos or Cessna AC-208 Combat Caravans into our inventory for such missions, but we don't do cheap anymore.