US Navy buys more Growlers/Super Hornets...production line secure...

Thanks to Super Rhino for the link!

via GovWire

Boeing (NYSE: BA) has received a potential two-year, $678.7 million contract to build seven lot 40 EA-18G Growler aircraft, five F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter jets and related aerial electronic attack kits for the U.S. Navy.
The company will perform work in California, Missouri, Minnesota, New York, Texas, Arizona, Ohio and Canada through February 2019 under the sole-source, fixed-price contract, the Defense Department said Monday.
The Naval Air Systems Command will obligate the full contract amount from the service branch’s aircraft procurement funds for fiscal 2016 at the time of award.
The Growler is a variant of the F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter jet and has Advanced Electronically Scanned Array radar, air-to-air missiles, digital datalinks and tactical jamming platforms that work against hostile air defenses.
The Boeing-made Super Hornet is a twin-engine fighter jet that has enclosed weapons pod and conformal fuel tanks and is designed to land and take off from an aircraft carrier.

Some will undoubtedly focus on the number of aircraft procured.  From my seat that's the wrong metric.  I believe that the aircraft are needed but the main goal of this contract is to provide the seed corn necessary for Boeing to secure the production line/expertise/workforce.  But even that isn't the real goal. I believe the US Navy is seeking to set the stage to ensure a quick ramp up in production when the new defense bill is signed.

This is good news for Boeing and the US Navy.