Request for additional F-18s

The Navy is going to need more F-18s to replace the F-35Cs that never get built. The Marines are still hoping for the F-35B and haven't gone with the Super Hornet. I think that will change when the F-35 gets truncated or terminated. The Marines like VSTOL, but the compromises and limitations to the airframes make VSTOL, IMO, not viable. When I was in F-4s the Marines had a thing called a SATS field, which was a steel matting field, about 2000 ft. long with a J-79 powered catapult and arresting gear that could be put down quickly. I feel F-18Fs off a SATS field is better than AV-8Bs or F-35Bs flying off a sand pit behind the battalion CO's hooch.

The F-35 isn't going to get terminated.  The Marine Corps is never going to fly Super Hornets.  Hornets are hurting bad right now.  The older Supers are right behind them, there won't be any Super Hornets to spare.  The USMC can't equip its squadrons with 12 jets, flight line entitlement is only 10 jets now.  Go to NAS North Island, it's a Hornet/Rhino graveyard.  The Marine Corps is going to fly Hornets until 2030.  Yes a Super Hornet would be better than a Harrier, no it wouldn't be nearly as survivable as an F-35.  I bet the F-35A/B will have superior kinematics, especially in situations that require anything to be hung off a Hornet (which is every situation), but the big wing will hurt the C.  Seeing some drag polars would be interesting.  

Look at the F-22. It has real air-to-air performance, and they truncated it on cost. The F-35 is an A-6 in funny clothes. It is also extremely expensive. There is no way they are going to be able to buy as many as they would like. If that is so, then they need a replacement. We bought the Brit AV-8s, but they aren't going to last forever. The Marine Legacy F-18s are already old. The F-18E/F is the only production a/c that can meet their requirements. They just need to keep the line open.

Except the A-6 could truck in 30 500lb MK82's

Point of order here. The Marines didn't buy the Brit Harriers to fly. They bought them for parts.

True.  

The F18 E/F cannot meet the requirements that the F35 will fill.  Also, neither hornet comes close to an F22.  They are more like the F35 in terms of performance.  

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Yep it could, but that was in the pre LGB/GPS days and it took 30 of them to destroy a target. Still love the airplane though, times are a changing.

Those are going to be some pretty tired Hornets come 2030.

All those F-16s & F-15s from the 80s, that make up the bulk of the Air Force... The ones the F22 (which we were supposed to buy hundreds of, but stopped before 200) & F-35 were/are supposed to replace? If the F-35 procurement fails like the F-22 procurement failed (I say 'procurement failed' in that the F-22 does indeed fly & do what it's supposed to, so the design itself didn't fail. The effort to buy enough of them to replace the F-15Cs, however, was not successful - thank you Congress)... What's the alternative?

Then we've got the B-52 - the abjectly crappiest plane the AF has besides the KC135, a flying-fossil that's only good as a cruise-missile truck & to (very slowly) bomb Bedouins with AKs.... Two separate programs were developed (B-1 & B-2) to get us better bombers... Both cut short after a small amount of production... B-52s are still in use, because they're paid for...

I wish I could say I see a bright spot, but it appears that *every single* procurement since the F-18 & C-17 has been a disaster...