Boeing is offering the U.S. Navy a plan that includes continued long-term production of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet to alleviate a major projected shortfall in the service's strike-fighter numbers and keep the force capable until a replacement is fielded, in the mid-2030s or later. The Navy's oldest Super Hornet fleet will reach its 6,000-hr, design lifetime in 2017. The rest of the fleet will follow at approximately the rate they were acquired-around 40 per year-but the Navy can afford 20 Lockheed Martin F-35C Joint Strike Fighters each year, at most, and may buy fewer than that.
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