President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates haven’t really said anything about the push to buy more F/A-18E/F Super Hornets.
And that silence may be telling.
Now that summer’s over, Congress is back in session this week. And lawmakers may finally hammer out a deal allowing the Navy to buy a new batch of Super Hornets.
So far, the Super Hornets haven’t gained any of the attention that some other hot-button aviation issues have.
For example, Gates recently threatened a White House veto of the entire defense bill if it includes cash for a extra F-35 engine that he says is unnecessary. A similar stand off arose around the Air Force’s F-22 earlier this year.
But so far, the friends of the Super Hornet have not faced the same pressure.
“It’s not a dead issue,” one retired aviator who keeps close tabs on wheeling and dealing in Washington tells Scoop Deck.
“I find it encouraging that all the same people at the White House and the representatives [in Congress]who say they will come out and veto the bill if it has the extra engine or the F-22 haven’t said anything about the Super Hornets,” he said.
