Boeing upbeat on prospects for F/A-18 fighter sales

By Andrea Shalal-Esa

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md., May 5 (Reuters) - Boeing Co (BA.N) expressed optimism on Tuesday that it would be able to sell more supersonic F/A-18 fighter jets to the U.S. government and other countries seeking to modernize their arsenals.

Boeing Vice President Bob Gower, who heads Boeing's F/A-18 and EA-18 programs, told reporters the current world economic crisis could slow down or curtail some foreign orders, but several countries urgently needed to replace aging fighters.

Current plans call for the U.S. Navy to buy a combination of 89 more F/A-18E/F fighter jets and the EA-18 Growler variant with electronic attack capability over the next three years.

Ray Mabus, President Barack Obama's nominee to become Navy secretary, last week said the plans called for 31 F/A-18 fighter purchases in fiscal 2010, 34 in 2011 and 24 in 2012.

Gower said Boeing remained optimistic that the U.S. Navy would eventually buy even more F/A-18s beyond those 89 aircraft, given Navy projections that the age of the current fleet and current plans for buying the F-35 fighter built by Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) will leave the U.S. military with a significant fighter shortfall in coming years.

"We're the only platform that can fill that inventory shortfall," Gower told reporters at the Navy League's annual Sea Air Space conference, noting that the Pentagon had not announced plans to accelerate production of the Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

Gower said the Obama administration's fiscal 2010 budget, to be submitted to Congress on Thursday, was probably arriving too late to start work on another multiyear agreement, but said Boeing would continue to push for another a multiyear agreement from 2011 on. The current five-year deal ends in 2009.

Captain Mark Darrah, the Navy's F/A-18 and EA-18 program manager, said the Navy remained pleased with Boeing's performance on the program, noting it had delivered the latest fighter jets on cost and ahead of schedule. The jets also continued to perform well and required little maintenance.