Well…
Well…
Th ‘everything’ fighter jet the F-35 seems to have priced itself out continued production….
The ‘old’ F-15 and F-16 current US Air Force and other countries work horses are in production, work and are cheeper to build, and operate from pilot training to spare parts….
U.S. Air Force officials are talking about ordering new Lockheed Martin F-16s two decades after signing the last production contract.
A review of the tactical aircraft portfolio now underway is set to deliver another Air Force acquisition shake-up in the fiscal 2023 budget request, with F-16s, Boeing F-15EXs, a new breed of so-called attritable aircraft and a next-generation fighter competing for a pool of production funding once monopolized by Lockheed’s F-35A.
The review comes as the Air Force grapples with maintaining an aging fleet of fighters and looming capacity shortfalls in the absence of a steep ramp-up in the delivery of replacement aircraft over the next decade. The F-16 remains in production in Greenville, South Carolina, where Lockheed transplanted the assembly line in 2019 to support continued international demand for the 50-year-old design.
“As you look at the new F-16 production line in South Carolina, that system has some wonderful upgraded capabilities that are worth thinking about as part of our capacity solution,” said Will Roper, former assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics, who spoke to Aviation Week a day before he resigned his political appointment on Jan. 20…
image…Top A/C F-16, Bottom F-16/Westfield News