Additional Super Hornets in FY 2022 budget
According to a draft of the National Defence Authorisation Act, the House and Senate armed services committees agreed on the Fiscal Year 2022 policy bill for twelve extra F/A-18E/F Super Hornets. The new policy bill was released on 7 December 2021.
Although the US Navy pleaded to end the production line of the Super Hornets, the addition of the twelve fighters is meant "to mitigate the Navy’s strike-fighter shortfall and bolster tactical fighter aircraft capacity," according to a summary of the bill.
Originally the US Navy had planned to buy more Super Hornets in a multi-year procurement between FY 2022 and FY 2024, but the service’s FY 2021 budget submission called for an end to the production line of the Boeing-built aircraft after that budget year.
The Navy at the time said it would instead use that money to invest in its Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) programme, which includes a sixth-generation fighter aircraft. The committee has voiced concern about the US Navy’s push to end a mature production line to develop new technologies.
The FY 2022 budget proposal was released early November 2021. The key takeaways from this proposal were:
Naval aviation (US Navy and US Marine Corps) proposes to procure 97 aircraft of all kinds, down from 144 in FY 2021. Naval aviation is in generally good shape. Inventories have been stable, the average age for most elements is good, and the Navy has been buying enough aircraft to maintain its inventory.
Overview of aircraft procurement in FY 2022:
Photo by US Navy