Thursday, February 28, 2013

Can Boeing's Super Hornet Rival Lockheed's F-35?



Boeing Touts Fighter Jet To Rival F-35 — At Half The Price -- CBC

Super Hornet less stealthy, but has lower sticker price and operational costs.

In a dogfight of defence contractors, the hunter can quickly become the hunted. It's happening now to the F-35.

The world's largest defence contractor, Lockheed Martin, is trying to convince wavering U.S. allies — including Canada — to stick with its high-tech, high-priced and unproven F-35 stealth fighter. But the F-35 is way behind schedule, way over budget and, now, it's grounded by a mysterious crack in a turbine fan.

After years of technical problems, it's a tempting target for Lockheed Martin's rivals.

It's no surprise, then, that the No. 2 defence contractor, Boeing, smells blood.

Read more ....

Update: Boeing's bid to replace CF-18s gets CBCNews.ca readers talking -- CBC Community Blog

My Comment:
Another added feature to the Super Hornet (for Canada) that is a big positive is the following ....

.... The cost of transitioning our pilots and mechanics from our existing F-18 fleet to the Super Hornet is minimal considering the transition to an entirely new aircraft like the F-35. Furthermore, I suspect there are a lot of parts we have for our existing F-18 fleet that would be applicable to the new Super Hornet," said GGaudreau.

Kudos to the CBC for doing this story .... and the above video is a must see.

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