Actually, we have pretty definitive proof that the last remaining F-14s were destroyed on the ground. I agree that we have our own propaganda. And in merging our thoughts, I believe we did take out their nuclear capabilities with the "Midnight Hammer" B-2 attacks last year, which also means the current claims that we went in to stop their nuclear ambitions are bullcrap, upon which we are in agreement.
@courtland Keep your eyes out for an announcement on the F/A-XX by the end of September. The federal government's fiscal year ends on 9/30, including DoD, which makes the next 3 weeks paramount to awarding this contract. I have reason to believe Boeing is a very serious contender to win, which would see both the USAF's F-47 and the Navy's F/A-XX being built in STL. Fingers crossed...
^That's just a small part of the larger program; the order for the initial move to low rate production, and I think BJ likely has it wrong anyway. Per navair.navy.mil, it's for four at $805 M, and it will ultimately be for dozens so long as it isn't cancelled. The navy needs a lot more than four tankers. Neither the Superhornet nor the Lightning II has legs worth discussing. The Navy doesn't like getting outranged. It's happened before, but it's been a minute. They're talking about having several MQ-25s routinely accompanying strike missions. If every carrier air group has a half dozen of the things or so that'd be fifty four of the things, plus some spares for training, maintenance, and replacements, so eighty odd seems like a safe minimum. And if you get foreign orders it could well go higher. It's a pretty specialized aircraft, but it's not going to be something so precious as a stealth bomber. Boeing will make the thing in fairly significant numbers.
It's a pretty good problem to have. I wish them luck. The Navy has, I believe, been flying St. Louis jets continuously since the FH Phantom I in 1947. (Incidentally, the Navy's first carrier based jet.) It's a part of a great tradition.
If I'm not mistaken, I heard on Fox 2 this morning that the program could create 7K new jobs. Anyone heard numbers like that? If so, that is amazing news for the region. I would assume there will be many more jobs created from the other programs, suppliers & companies servicing this massive operation.
Even among the people in this forum who follow local news more than most, I'm not sure how much we all realize how big a run Boeing is on.
the new AF fighter and now the Navy win?
That's literally thousands and thousands of jobs - high paying middle class jobs - in STL for decades.
I clearly remember the *enormous* local handwringing in the press when McDonnell Douglas lost the JSF in 1996. To my much-younger brain, it seemed like STL was doomed. yet, here we are 30 years later....
soulardx wrote:Even among the people in this forum who follow local news more than most, I'm not sure how much we all realize how big a run Boeing is on.
the new AF fighter and now the Navy win?
That's literally thousands and thousands of jobs - high paying middle class jobs - in STL for decades.
I clearly remember the *enormous* local handwringing in the press when McDonnell Douglas lost the JSF in 1996. To my much-younger brain, it seemed like STL was doomed. yet, here we are 30 years later....
You just weren't fully informed on the complete fiscal and capital backing the military industrial complex has. The government will never let Boeing Defense down.
Boeing StL has been on fire this year. Its been fun talking to all my Boeing friends recently and seeing all the hype videos Boeing has been posting.
Moving forward though I have strong reservations about our ability to compete globally given our loss of hegemony and our clear inability to sustain prolonged combat operations. I'm afraid our only way to succeed moving forward is to bring our defense contractors under partial government partnership. We simply have no way to ramp up production for modern prolonged warfare. And how much longer should our planes require a pilot? And with the success of all types of drones, can we compete with an adversary able to reliably produce nearly 10mil FPV drones per year and 50k attack drones per year?
