요즈음 F-35 문제로 이곳저곳이 시끄러운데 호주에서 24대의 F-18F를 구매하기로 한것에 대해서 록히드가 민감하게 반응하네요.
F-111이 2010년 퇴역함에 따라서 24대의 F-18F를 60억 호주달러(45억 US달러, 대당 1.9억 달러??? 자료마다 얘기가 틀리니... ㅡㅡ^)에 구매하여 공백을 메꾸기로 했는데, 록히드는 F-35 구매수량 감소를 우려해서 호주 국방부 장관과 긴급하게 회의를 했다고 합니다.
록히드측은 F-35가 2010년에 배치되지 못할것임을 인정하면서도 F-18F가 10년안에 구식이 될거라는 얘기를 했다는군요.
호주의 경우도 2014년부터 F-35를 납품하여 2016년이면 24대를 배치할 수 있다고 하는데, 호주의 구매물량은 100대이고 160~190억 호주달러(120~143억 달러, 대당 1.2~1.4억 달러)에 이를것으로 예상하고 있다고 합니다.
터키도 2009년부터 작업에 착수해서 2014년에 납품받을거라고 하던데, 2013년까지 저율 생산이라는걸 감안하면 수급이 좀 늦는편인것 같네요.
2014년부터 월별로 21대(일년에 250대)로 생산 규모로 늘릴 예정이라고 하던데, 그때가 되어야 안정화 되려나???
그런데 영국 구매량은 138대로 확정된건가요?

" http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21428285-1702,00.html "

Super Hornets \'out of date in 10 years\'By Nick Butterly
March 22, 2007 06:18pm
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THE American head of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter project warns Australia\'s new Super Hornet jets will be vulnerable to enemy attack within 10 years.

Tom Burbage, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin\'s JSF program, says he was surprised by the Government\'s decision to buy 24 of the Hornets.

The Australian Government announced last month that it would spend $6 billion to buy the advanced Boeing Super Hornet fighter-bombers as a stopgap so the RAAF can maintain regional air superiority until the JSF is ready for operations.

The Super Hornet decision spells the end of the F-111 strike bombers which will be retired in 2010.

Mr Burbage said when he heard Australia would buy the Super Hornet he sought an urgent meeting with Defence Minister Brendan Nelson, fearing money would be taken from Australia\'s JSF program to pay for the Hornet.

He said he had been reassured that would not happen.

But Mr Burbage cautioned the Super Hornet already was an old aircraft.

"It\'s not an airplane that you would buy for a future threat," he said in Canberra today.

"It\'s more than satisfactory for the current threat, but remember that it\'s been around for a while.

"It\'s not the airplane you want to hang your future on if you want to have an effective coalition airplane and you want to be effective nationally in a threat environment 10 to 15 years down the road."

However, Mr Burbage conceded that, with the retirement of the F-111, Australia was facing a capability gap.

He said it was true that in 2010 – the planned retirement date of the F-111 – there would be no F-35s in Australia.

He said the first JSFs should begin arriving in 2014 and Australia should have its first operational squadron of 24 JSF fighters in 2016.

Mr Burbage, who has held meetings in recent days with both Dr Nelson and Labor defence spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon, denied reports the JSF had fallen behind schedule and was suffering from cost blowouts.

He said Australia could become a regional maintenance and training hub for the JSF.

Negotiations are said to already be underway with the Dutch air force to allow their JSF pilots to train in Australia.

"Australia could well become one of the training hubs for F-35 operators," Mr Burbage said. .

Lockheed Martin is developing three models of the radar-evading, multi-role JSF fighter in a major international co-operation effort financed by the US and eight other countries, including Australia.

The Pentagon plans to buy more than 2400 F-35s by 2027 for the US Air Force, US Navy and US Marine Corps, in a project worth $US276.5bn ($353.8bn). Britain is expected to buy 138.

Australia intends to buy up to 100 JSFs at a total cost of between $16 and $19bn.