Something has to replace the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet after 2025. Why not this?
I doubt that's Boeing sales pitch, but, in fairness, I haven't had an opportunity to discuss this 1/16th scale model -- displayed today at the Navy League Sea Air Space Expo 2010 in National Harbor, Md., -- with the relevant program staff (No pressure, Boeing communications staff!).
I first spied a photo of this concept last year on a visit to Boeing's St. Louis facility, where the F/A-18 is manufactured. That came about one year after the US Navy first publicly unveiled the F/A-XX concept at an AUVSI convention.
Technically, Boeing's concept does not compete with the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The F/A-XX program intends to replace the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, which had replaced Grumman F-14s. The F-35 will replace F/A-18Cs after 2015.
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