THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 21, 1996 TAG: 9606210485
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: 86 lines
The warplane touted by its boosters as the centerpiece of naval aviation for at least the next 15 years is overpriced hardware whose attributes have been oversold by the Navy, according to a report by Congress' investigative arm.
The General Accounting Office has urged the Pentagon to consider canceling the $63.1 billion F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet program in favor of additional purchases of the C/D model Hornet, a craft now in the Navy's inventory.
The shift could save taxpayers about $17 billion, the agency estimated.
The GAO said the Super Hornet would have greater range and would be able to deliver more firepower than the C/D. But many of the Super Hornet's improvements could be matched by lower-cost modifications to the C/D, the agency said.
And in any case, the improvements are too minor to justify the new plane's higher price tag, the GAO said: The Super Hornet would cost up to $53 million per plane, according to GAO, versus $28 million each for the current F/A-18.
The Navy disputes the GAO's figures, putting the Super Hornet's price at about $44 million per plane.
Even at that level, the GAO said, each Super Hornet would cost at least $4 million more than current projections for a new Joint Strike Fighter being designed for the Navy and Air Force and slated to be in production by 2007.
In an interview Thursday, Rear. Adm. Dennis V. McGinn, director of the air warfare division in the office of the chief of naval operations, strongly defended the new plane and said it continues to ``enjoy a tremendous amount of support'' within the Pentagon.
McGinn, who is overseeing the Super Hornet's development, said that the Joint Strike Fighter is more than a decade away and that the Navy needs the Super Hornet now.
Indeed, if the service set out to modify the C/D to provide the same improvements it will get from the Super Hornet, ``we would invent the E/F,'' McGinn said.
The days when Navy jets would dump their loads of unused ``dumb'' bombs to preserve their planes during hard carrier-deck landings are over: McGinn said that with the development of expensive laser-guided bombs and precision missiles, it is vital that the planes be able to return to the deck with all of their weapons.
Hornet C/Ds now operating over Bosnia routinely are tail-hooking onto carriers with payloads of up to 7,100 pounds, about 1,000 pounds more than their design limit.
The Navy said extra weight during such hard landings strains the C/D airframes, gradually shortening the planes' lives. The E/F will be designed to return payloads of up to 9,000 pounds.
But the GAO said design changes that make it possible for the Super Hornet to accommodate those larger loads could be incorporated into the C/D.
The agency cited a report by McDonnell Douglas, the plane's manufacturer, suggesting that with some changes to their landing gear and other components, the C/Ds could safely bring home payloads of up to 10,000 pounds.
McGinn disputed GAO assertions that in providing the Super Hornet with increased range and payload capabilities, the Navy will be getting a less capable aerial dogfighter than it has with the C/D.
If the jets are carrying comparable loads of fuel and weapons, ``the E/F is every bit as maneuverable,'' he said.
McGinn repeated Navy assertions that the Super Hornet program ``is a model'' for weapons-procurement programs throughout the Pentagon. The first Super Hornet, now undergoing tests at Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland, was delivered ahead of schedule and under budget, he said.
The GAO's stinging, 98-page assessment of the Super Hornet program, released late Wednesday, closely tracked criticisms the agency voiced in a draft that was leaked to some news organizations in April.
Navy officials had said they were confident they could change the GAO's mind about the program. But while the final report included detailed Navy and Pentagon responses to the draft, the agency did not budge from its findings.
The proposed 1997 Defense Department budget includes more than $2.1 billion for the first 12 operational Super Hornets. The Navy and McDonnell Douglas unveiled the first of the planes last year; two single-seat ``E'' models, and one ``F'', a two-seater, are now being test-flown at Patuxent River.
One key to the Super Hornet's final cost could be whether the Marine Corps can be persuaded to buy some of the ``F'' models. The Navy's projected cost of $44 million per plane is dependent on a total production of about 1,000 Super Hornets, with 340 of those going to the Marines.
The Corps now has no plans to buy any of the Super Hornets, however. The GAO said that if total production is reduced to the 660 planes the Navy wants for itself, the cost per plane would increase significantly. ILLUSTRATION: McDonnell Douglass color photo
The new F/A-18 E-model, above, and F-model Super Hornets would cost
up to $53 million each, the General Accounting Office says. The Navy
says the price would be $44 million. by CNB