In article ,
"Tarver Engineering" wrote:

"Fred J. McCall" wrote in message

We'll see what the real operational range is with the bays full of
weapons and no external tanks. So far, all the numbers I've seen
amount to hand waving.

The Navy just bought another 210 F/A-18s, so they may agree with you, Fred.
(EW)

The contract for 210 more Super Hornets is just for part of the original
plan, not an additional buy. The first contract was for 222, this one
is for 210 - less than the 538 they were going to buy for a while, and a
lot less than the 1000 or so they were originally going to purchase.

The F-18 is still going to be pretty useful as a bomb truck, and can be
modified (EA-18G) into the followon Prowler replacements we're starting
to need. The new models also have enough total fuel capacity (when
kitted out) to allow them to be used as a tanker with self-defense
capability.

The FA-18E/F isn't an F-35 replacement, it's a replacement for just
about everything *else* except COD planes and helicopters... and it
costs $57 million a pop, more than the F-35's Navy variant.

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