CBO expects fighter/attack, rotorcraft platforms to make up bulk of future US Navy aircraft procurement

The US Congressional Budget Office (CBO) expects fighter/attack aircraft and combat rotorcraft such as helicopters and tiltrotors to make up more than 80% of the US Navy’s (USN’s) procurement costs from 2020 to 2050, according to a new report.

The report, The Cost of Replacing Today’s Naval Aviation Fleet, released on 6 January, projects the costs the USN, including the US Marine Corps (USMC), would incur to maintain the size and composition of its aviation force through 2050. The report said although the USN and the USMC operate about 60 models of aircraft, a small number of high-performance or otherwise technologically-advanced aircraft account for a preponderance of the cost of new aircraft in CBO’s projections.

The CBO said in a new report that the USN could save about USD17 billion over the first 448 aircraft if it buys F-35Cs (pictured) to replace its Super Hornets instead of developing a new fighter. (US Navy)

Fighter/attack aircraft – such as the Lockheed Martin USMC F-35B short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) model, the USN F-35C carrier variant, and the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet – make up the most expensive category. They account for approximately half, about USD190 billion, of projected procurement costs from 2020 to 2050. The USN is in the process of replacing more than half of its fighter/attack aircraft, the Boeing F/A-18 Hornets and the McDonnell-Douglas AV-8B Harrier II+ combat aircraft, with new F-35B/Cs.