Quote:
Originally Posted by worth
Forgive my ignorance but I am assuming so much has changed since the 80's that you can't just call up Boeing and ask for 20 more CF-18's to add to the current fleet? Do they even make F-18's anymore? I think Boeing makes the Super Hornet still, right? This plane must me very different from a CF-18? I would think that there would be a lot of similarities so that if a country like Canada had to, they could purchase some Super Hornets in the short term and utilize the same people for maintenance and the same pilots, could they not? Or am I way out to lunch?
If all the avionics and weapon suystems are relativley new of the CF-18's, why can't countries like Canada or Australia order more airframes and cycle those through their current fleet to extend life? Or order airframes and install new avionics and weapons?
I'm thinking that the initial alotment is laid out and purchased, the factory will pump them out and by the time they are done making thousands of these things, they are well on their way to pumping out the next fighter on the list? Basically everyone is stuck with what they have?
|
The F-18E is (for all intents and purposes) an
entirely different aircraft than the F-18A. Look it up on Wiki.
We are fine until about 2018 as with respect to airframe life; the RAAF is not. Our current machines are state of the art in terms of weapons/avionics suites.
That's why the RAAF are buying F-18E/F's. We don't need to.