An F/A-18 Block III Super Hornet takes flight in front of Boeing’s Aircraft Delivery Service Centre in St. Louis | Photo: Boeing
U.S. defence and aerospace manufacturer Boeing announced on Thursday that it would be ending production of the storied F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter by the end of 2025.
A company statement said that ‘Boeing expects to complete new-build production of the F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter aircraft in late 2025 following delivery of the final U.S. Navy fighters.’
This comes as Boeing looks at completing U.S. Navy orders for 78 new Block III F/A-18 Super Hornets by the end of 2025. It will also be converting all 608 Block II Super Hornets to the Block III standard, a significant upgrade, saying it ‘will continue work on F/A-18 Service Life Modification through the mid-2030s’ and ‘continue to develop advanced capabilities and upgrades for the global F/A-18 Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler fleet’.
“Throughout the next decade, all Block II Super Hornets in Service Life Modification will receive the Block III capability suite. Boeing will also continue to add advanced electronic attack capability as part of ongoing Growler modifications,” said the statement.
Read more about the Block III Super Hornet capability upgrade
The Indian Navy has been comparing the Dassault Rafale M and the F/A-18 Super Hornet for its requirement for Multi-Role Carrier-Borne Fighters (MRCBF), with an initial number of 26 aircraft and a total of 57. These aircraft are meant to embark India’s aircraft carriers, especially with the recently-commissioned INS Vikrant planned to be fully operational by the end of this year, and with plans for a third aircraft carrier to follow.
Read more about the Indian Navy contest for new fighters
Once the order for U.S. Navy fighters has been completed by the end of 2025, Boeing says, “Production could be extended to 2027 if the Super Hornet is selected by an international customer.”
Boeing produces the Super Hornet at a nominal rate of two aircraft a month. At this rate, the Indian Navy requirement for fighters could be completed in a year, by the end of 2026.
In comparison, selecting the Rafale M would mean a considerably longer wait for deliveries.
The strongest case for a Rafale M order by the Indian Navy is made by tying it to further potential orders of Rafale fighters by the Indian Air Force (IAF). Such an IAF order could either be after selection in the forthcoming contest for 114 Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft (MRFA), or a second order for fighters in addition to the 36 Rafale aircraft already in service.
But tying the Indian Navy order to a potential IAF order for Rafale fighters means delaying the navy’s requirements indefinitely.
A U.S. Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet launches off the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz in the Philippine Sea on February 22, 2023 | Photo: U.S. Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Justin McTaggart
Why? While Rafale-manufacturer Dassault has been blessed with strong orders in the last couple of years, it also has a ballooning order book because of its low production rate. With France selling off older Rafale fighters to countries like Greece and Croatia and also drawing down its fleet of older Mirage 2000 fighters, it can no longer hold off ordering new Rafale variants for itself, given the situation in Europe since the Russian invasion of Ukraine a year back.
There is simply no way its production line can accommodate Indian orders for new fighters at this point. This is also the reason why the ‘French have offered to transfer some aircraft from its own naval fleet to ensure that the Indian Navy can operate them faster’, if it orders the Rafale.
According to Dassault, “While 325 Rafales fighters had been ordered (133 for export) and 239 delivered at the end of 2021, by 2022, there will be 453 Rafales on order (261 for export), once the UAE, Indonesia and Greece contracts come into effect.”
The current production rate has been eleven aircraft a year, according to Reuters, up from seven aircraft a year at one point. This comes to one aircraft a month, or eleven a year, with one month off a year.
FlightGlobal reported last year that Dassault was planning to increase production to an eventual rate of three aircraft a month, after plans for an increase to two aircraft per month.
As of the end of 2022, Dassault had an order book of 164 Rafale aircraft. At rates of eleven a year, or one aircraft a month, that’s 14 years worth of orders. At rates of two a month, or 22 aircraft a year, that’s more than a seven-year wait for a slot on the assembly line. At the ambitious production rate of 33 aircraft a year, it will still take four years for a go at the assembly line.
The Economic Times reported last month, ‘Armed with orders from across the world, manufacturer Dassault has its entire Rafale production line full till 2029 and has been in talks to establish a second line of production in India to meet demands.’
While the prospect of a second Rafale assembly line in India is enticing, it will not be feasible without the additional numbers of an accompanying IAF order tied to it, which will take time, whenever it comes through. And not to forget the difficulties experienced over the reluctance of Dassault to set up a Rafale assembly line in India, resulting in the aborted IAF contest for 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA).
But clubbing orders to achieve economies of scale is not a bad idea. Another approach to get these economies and establish genuine aviation industry capabilities in India would be to focus on the GE F414 fighter jet engine. Aircraft engine production in India is a high-priority objective under the Modi government’s policy of Atmanirbharta or self-reliance.
Just last month, during meetings between the national security advisers of the U.S. and India, high on the agenda was the prospect of production of these engines in India. “Noting the United States has received an application from General Electric to jointly produce jet engines that could power jet aircraft operated and produced indigenously by India. The United States commits to an expeditious review of this application,” said a White House statement.
There is considerable value to this. India’s Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mk2, Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) and the naval Twin-Engined Deck Based Fighter (TEDBF) are all planned to be powered by this same engine.
With plans for:
- 210 LCA Mk2
- 125 AMCA (Twin-Engined)
- 100 TEDBF (Twin-Engined)
That comes to at least 660 GE F414 engines operating in India. The minimum additional number of 52 engines for the 26 twin-engined Super Hornets would fit easily into this array.
And with the Super Hornet line ending production of new aircraft, there could be further possibilities there for India.
Take a complete look at the specifications of the F/A-18 Super Hornet
