Dmurphy wrote:SLAP for the Super Hornet
The one- and two-seat Super Hornets began a service life assessment program, or SLAP, last year. That’s the first step to determine how long the planes will last and what significant repairs may be needed to extend them beyond their initial minimum life span of 6,000 flight hours....
The latest reports say those older aircraft will have to retire earlier than expected, increasing the shortfall.....
The Navy initially hoped to extend the older Hornets to 10,000 flight hours, but their unexpectedly poor condition likely will make extension beyond 8,600 exorbitantly expensive, Navy officials said....
Boeing, which makes the Super Hornets, has been eager to forge a new multi-year contract with the Navy to sell dozens of new Super Hornets at roughly $50 million per aircraft....
I wanted to post a similar article, which has a few more details. keep in mind that in general, Naval aviation exacts a higher toll on fighters as compared to land based aviation. the fact that Super Hornets will last 6000 hours minimum and with a refit go on to 9000 hours hopefully, shows how rugged their construction really is, because carrier landings are very high stress landings with very high sink rates.
What it means for us- that the calculation of upfront costs for the MRCA should take this into account. any fighter that offers 20-25% more service life than others justifies being slightly more expensive, as it will last longer in service, or offer higher utilisation over the same period as other fighters and hopefully with the same amount of consumables (spares). this is unless the IAF has simply listed a figure (say 6000 hours) as the minimum service life and any fighter that simply MEETS the target gets a tick across that box, instead of getting any additional points for exceeding the mark.
Although they’ve been in the fleet for less than a decade, the Navy’s F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets already are undergoing a detailed inspection to determine their projected service life, Navy officials said.
The one- and two-seat Super Hornets began a service life assessment program, or SLAP, last year. That’s the first step to determine how long the planes will last and what significant repairs may be needed to extend them beyond their initial minimum life span of 6,000 flight hours.
The oldest Super Hornets have logged 3,200 to 3,800 flight hours, and Navy officials hope to extend that to 9,000, according Marcia Hart-Wise, a spokeswoman for the F/A-18 program office at Naval Air Systems Command.
The results of the SLAP will help shed new light on the “strike fighter gap,” the projected shortfall in fighter jets the Navy will face as F/A-18 A-D models begin retiring before their replacements, F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters, join the fleet.
The gap has become a hot-button issue for the Navy as congressional lawmakers debate whether to spend millions on a new block of Super Hornets to bolster the fighter fleet until the carrier version of the F-35 arrives in 2015.
The Navy is closely studying the condition of the A through D models, which were put into service in the 1980s and are nearing the end of their service life. The latest reports say those older aircraft will have to retire earlier than expected, increasing the shortfall.
The Navy initially hoped to extend the older Hornets to 10,000 flight hours, but their unexpectedly poor condition likely will make extension beyond 8,600 exorbitantly expensive, Navy officials said.
The SLAP for the Super Hornets could, for the first time, draw those planes into the fighter gap equation, altering projections about the future fleet size and the urgency of buying new planes.
“They want to know what kind of work would be needed to extend the E and F series, and how much would it cost,” said Richard Aboulafia, a defense consultant with the Teal Group in Virginia.
Boeing, which makes the Super Hornets, has been eager to forge a new multi-year contract with the Navy to sell dozens of new Super Hornets at roughly $50 million per aircraft.
Building the future fighter fleet
The Navy’s study of its existing Super Hornets will examine the costs and benefits of extending the life of those aircraft. That in turn will help Navy leaders and lawmakers determine whether to buy more F-35s or Super Hornets.
Examining the Super Hornets will help shape that debate in the coming years.
“The tac-air gap will evolve each year. Any tac-air gap will have to look at all service life extension programs and models,” said Jim McAleese, principal at the McAleese and Associates defense consulting firm in Virginia.
Data on the Super Hornets’ life will help address any skepticism from the Office of the Secretary of Defense about the nature and scope of the shortfall, he said.
“OSD is going to be very concerned about the how credible and how genuine the tac-air gap is,” McAleese said.
Super Hornet 101
The Navy has begun to assess the life span of the fleet’s roughly 300 F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets.
Past: The first Super Hornet, an F/A-18E, was delivered to Strike Fighter Squadron 115 and deployed with the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln in July 2002.
Present: The Navy is still receiving new Hornets from Boeing’s active production line. The oldest aircraft have logged 3,200 to 3,800 flight hours.
Future: While the Super Hornets were designed to reach at least 6,000 flight hours, the Navy hopes to develop an affordable service life extension program for the planes to reach 9,000 lifetime flight hours.
) At this point, thee is very little info on the proposal as the french gov has decided not to communicate on this kind of hot topic before we reach advanced stages of the deal.
What could be an expedience for for example american AESA technology purchasing if India get the same from Russia with FGFA?
