First Italian F-
Roll-out for rst Lightning II assembled in Italy.
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Maiden deployment for US Navy’s Advanced
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Boeing is pinning its hopes of extending Super
Hornet production on a small follow-on order from
the Navy plus a possible new international customer
in the Middle East. US Navy/MC3 Taylor L. JacksonBoeing optimistic about Super Hornet
Boeing remains optimistic about extending
production of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet
and EA-18G Growler beyond 2017 in view
of potential overseas orders and the
demand for additional aircraft for the US
Navy. Dan Gillian, program manager for
both the Super Hornet and Growler, hinted
that an order from the Middle East could
be forthcoming this year, possibly pointing
to Kuwait, which has long been canvassed
by Boeing to replace its existing ‘classic’
Hornets.
Super Hornet and Growler production at
its St Louis plant will end in 2017 based
on existing US Navy orders, and it is
considered unlikely that Boeing wouldstart building ‘white tail’ Hornets as it did
with the C-17 in lieu of potential orders.
The manufacturer signed a memorandum
of understanding with the Navy in
December to reduce production from three
to two jets per month from the fi rst quarter
of 2016, to help extend production until
the end of 2017.
Boeing is hoping that the Navy will sign
for an additional 15 EA-18Gs this year.
Chief of Naval Operations ADM Jonathan
Greenert has also said that un-funded
priorities for Congress could include
additional Super Hornets in the light of a
projected shortfall of up to 36 jets in the
strike fi ghter inventory.and may be the only way for the USAF to
placate opponents of the A-10 retirement
plan.
Air Combat Command chief Gen Herbert
‘Hawk’ Carlisle said at a Pentagon briefi ng
on March 6: ‘We have gone out and looked at
other platforms to see if they could meet the
low-end CAS capability at a reasonable cost
per fl ying hour. There may be an infl ection
point where we need more capacity at
a lower cost... [It’s] not something that’s
outside of the realm’. The USAF and the US
Navy have both evaluated the Embraer A-
Super Tucano, and the USAF and ANG have
conducted extensive trials of the Beechcraft
AT-6 with the 81st Fighter Squadron at
Moody AFB, Georgia, currently operating the
A-29 to train Afghan crews.
The USAF’s latest strategy regarding
CAS was detailed during an inter-service
‘Future CAS Focus Week’ that took place
at the Pentagon from March 2-6. It also
emerged that the USAF is considering
re-assigning several multi-role F-16C and
F-15E squadrons to be primarily tasked for
CAS. The new CAS squadrons could have
revised operational capability statements
to incorporate CAS as a primary mission
rather than defensive counter-air (DCA)
operations or SEAD. Currently, these
units would typically fl y 12 CAS training
missions and 50 DCA sorties in a regular
training cycle. Once designated for CAS,
they would train for that mission for the
majority of the time, with DCA becoming a
secondary tasking.
Gen Carlisle is keen to ensure that the
USAF ‘maintains the culture’ of CAS if
and when the A-10 is retired, noting thatone third of the small pool of F-35 pilots at
Nellis AFB, Nevada, have come from the
A-10.
Indeed, the ACC chief also announced
plans to establish a CAS Integration Group
under the USAF Warfare Center’s 57th Wing
at Nellis AFB, Nevada, which will focus on
joint training and inter-service integration
activities. The group could include up to
12 F-16s and be staffed by representatives
from special operations, the Army, and
Marine Corps, to operate together with ‘the
intent on continuing to get better at the
close air support mission set’. Maj Michael
Albrecht, F-35 functional manager for ACC’s
operations directorate, commented: ‘This isnot a joint unit, it’s a USAF unit focused on
joint training’. Albrecht said that the unit
would look hard at the future of conducting
CAS in contested environments.http://www.combataircraft.net May 2015 76-7 Headlines C.indd 7 20/03/2015 11: