[ The Drive ] Navy Halts Plans To Give Its Super Hornets Conformal Fuel Tanks
The U.S. Navy appears to have all but scrapped its plans to equip its future Block III F/A-18E/F Super Hornets with conformal fuel tanks, or CFTs, at least for the time being. Boeing says it is not presently expecting to deliver any Block III jets with CFTs to the Navy. The service itself has also revealed that it issued a formal stop-work order to Boeing with regards to the continued development of the CFTs back in January.
“The U.S. Navy issued stop-work orders to The Boeing Company for work related to Conformal Fuel Tanks (CFTs) on Jan. 6, 2021, to pause the development of the CFT Engineering Change Proposal, citing struggles with cost, schedule, and performance,” the service said, according to Martin.
“The Block III’s coming off our assembly today have the provisions in place to accept a conformal fuel tank in the future,” Boeing also told Shepard News’ Air Editor, while also confirming that the jets would not be fitted with CFTs as standard, as had been expected.
All of this does come as the Navy is looking to stop buying any more Super Hornets and shift its attention to a new advanced fighter jet design as part of its Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program. Congress has responded to those plans with skepticism and you can read more about that emerging debate between the Navy and the legislators that control its budget here.
DPA Notes: We believe that the US Navy had simply made the decision to get the F35 to replace the increasingly outdated Hornet. Adding the conformal fuel tank would just be dragging the lifespan of the F18 beyond its expiry date given the increasingly advanced adversary in the Pacific.