| Author |
Message |
|
spazsinbad
|
 Posted: Feb 04, 2012 - 04:16 AM
|
 
|
|
Elite 3K
Joined: May 05, 2009 - 10:31 PM
Posts: 7856
Location: OZ
|
US Air Force plans to buy 160 F-35s through '17 Feb 3, 2012 By Andrea Shalal-Esa
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/ ... logySector
* US Air Force sticking to 1,763 purchase target for now
* Secretary says F-35 is a "must-do" for armed forces
* US working with international partners
"...In a new strategy paper released on Friday, the Air Force said it would develop a detailed plan for how the F-35 and the upgraded F-16s would replace a smaller number of aging aircraft, given plans to retire 286 airplanes and shrink the service.
But Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz said it was premature to consider revising downward the total target for the F-35 since the Air Force would have only received around 170 planes, less than 10 percent of the total number, by 2017.
"That call is well into the future," Schwartz said....
...Sources familiar with the plans say the Pentagon will buy 179 fewer planes from fiscal year 2013 through 2017, reducing the planned number built to 244 from 423.
The plans call for the Air Force to buy 19 conventional takeoff and landing or A models in fiscal 2013, while the Marine Corp would buy 6 B models, which have can take off from shorter runways and land like a helicopter, according to one source, who asked not to be named before the fiscal 2013 budget comes out.
The Navy is expected to buy just 4 of the C model, which can land on an aircraft carrier, said the source...."
&
"...US WORKING WITH PARTNER NATIONS
Donley told Reuters after the briefing that the Pentagon was working closely with each of the development partners on the program - Britain, Canada, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Turkey, Italy and Australia - to work out their orders for the planes. He did not comment on whether slower U.S. procurement would result in slower orders from the partners....
...Australian Defense Minister Stephen Smith told reporters on Monday that his country was committed to buying 14 F-35s, including two that are under contract to be delivered in 2014.
But he said Australia was taking its cue from Washington and would consider whether to delay the purchase of the next 12 airplanes, now slated to be bought from 2015 through 2017.
Smith said Australia was undertaking a comprehensive review this year to weigh risks to the F-35 program's schedule and cost, and whether it needed to buy other jets, such as Boeing Co's F/A-18 Super Hornet, to full any gap in capability.
Byron Callan, defense analyst with Capital Alpha Partners, said he expected purchases by the international partners to grow, but probably not at the pace that had been expected before U.S. cuts were announced...."
MUCH MORE detail AT THE URL above. |
_________________
RAN FAA A4G: http://tinyurl.com/ctfwb3t http://tinyurl.com/ccmlenr http://www.youtube.com/user/bengello/videos
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Sponsor
|
 Posted: May 23, 2013 - 12:19 PM
|
|
|
F-16.net Sponsor
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Search
Register
Private Messages
Forum Guidelines
