美 해군, 70억불 규모의 F/A-18 Hornet 수명 연장 계획...

 

美 해군이 F-35 JSF 의 개발 및 실전배치 일정이 지연되고 있는 것의 대안으로 약 300여대에 이르는 F/A-18 Hornet 에 대해서

총액 약 70억불 규모의 수명 연장 사업을 진행할 계획이라는 소식 입니다.

 

美 회계감사원 (GAO) 이 최근 발표한 보고서 (GAO-10-789) 에 의하면, 美 해군은 2012~2016 예산(안)에 F/A-18 Hornet 수명

연장 계획을 포함시킬 것이라는 내용 입니다. (최종적으로 확정된 내용은 아니라는 점 참조 바랍니다.)

 

美 GAO 의 보고서 GAO-10-789 에 대해서는, 보고서 전문과 함께 별도로 소개하겠습니다.

 

美 Boeing 社의 입장에서는, 지난 5월 美 해군이 66대의 Super Hornet 과 58대의 Growler 를 구입하기로 결정함으로써 2015년

까지는 F/A-18 생산라인 유지가 가능한 상태에서, 이러한 美 해군의 계획으로 2015년을 넘어 2~3년더 생산라인 유지가 가능할

것으로 보입니다.

 

한편 사우디아라비아가 84대의 F-15 최신 모델을 구입하고 기 운용 중인 70여대의 F-15 에 대한 성능개량 사업을 실시할 것이

라는 소식 역시, Boeing 으로써는 2016년~2017년까지는 F-15 생산라인의 유지가 가능할 것으로 예상됩니다.

 

아래 Bloomberg 통신 기사 전문을 붙입니다.

 

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Boeing May Get $7 Billion for Upgrades as Lockheed JSF Stalls

By Gopal Ratnam and Tony Capaccio - Aug 10, 2010 5:11 AM GMT+0900

 

Boeing Co. may receive $7 billion to extend the use of the Navy’s older fleet of F/A-18 jets, partly because of delays in Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.

 

In its 2012-2016 budget proposal, the Navy is considering spending the money to upgrade about 300 F/A-18 A and D fighters and lengthen their service lives by about 16 percent to 10,000 flight hours, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said in a report released today.

 

Overhauling the jets would help ensure that the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps have enough fighters to meet their needs through 2030 amid a slower-than-projected rollout of the JSF. The Air Force’s target is 2,000 fighters, and the total for the Navy and Marines is 1,240, the report said.

 

The Air Force and Navy may not meet those goals, and the “timing and magnitude of these shortfalls largely depend on assumptions about Joint Strike Fighter,” according to the GAO report, which was prepared for the U.S. House Armed Services Committee.

 

The F-35 program, with a projected cost of about $382 billion, is already four years behind schedule on milestones that include completion of the development phase and combat testing, beginning full-scale production and, finally, declaring the first Air Force and Navy units ready for combat.

 

John Kent, a spokesman for Lockheed, said it would be inappropriate to speculate on the U.S. Navy’s future budget. Damien Mills, a spokesman for Boeing, also said it wouldn’t be appropriate to comment.

 

Lockheed rose 53 cents to $75.60 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, while Boeing gained 29 cents to $68.99.

 

New Spending

 

Spending on parts and equipment for older F/A-18s would be in addition to as much as $4.8 billion in planned Navy purchases of new F/A-18E/F models through 2015, the GAO said. The Air Force also is examining upgrades to about 300 Lockheed-built F- 16s, “but a fully informed cost-and-benefit analysis has not been done,” the report said.

 

The Pentagon is in the early stages of reviewing the fiscal 2012 budgets from the Army, Air Force and Navy, which won’t be final until February.

 

Combat Squadrons

 

The Air Force and Navy plan to operate their first combat- ready F-35 squadrons in 2016, about five years behind the Air Force’s original June 2011 date and four years after the Navy goal, according to program documents listing initial milestones.

 

The Marine Corps’s April 2012 date is two years off the intended schedule.

 

Cheryl Irwin, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon, said it would be premature for the F-35 program office to comment on the report. Lieutenant Nate Christensen, a spokesman for the Navy, declined to comment.

 

The JSF is intended to give the Air Force, Navy and Marines a common strike aircraft that can be modified for each service’s needs.

 

The Pentagon has budgeted $58 billion for F-35 purchases through 2015, reaching $14.6 billion in that fiscal year, up from the pending $9.3 billion request for fiscal 2011, according to budget figures disclosed in the GAO report.

 

Lockheed, based in Bethesda, Maryland, is the world’s largest defense company. Chicago-based Boeing is the second- biggest U.S. defense contractor.

 

To contact the reporters on this story: Gopal Ratnam in Washington at gratnam1@bloomberg.net; Tony Capaccio in Washington at acapaccio@bloomberg.net.

 

 

  U.S. Marine Corps F/A-18C Hornet ⓒ U.S. Navy

 

  U.S. Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet ⓒ U.S. Navy