US Navy Buying 15 EF/A-18Gs

The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is being awarded an $897,530,175 modification to a previously awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm contract (N00019-14-C-0032) for the procurement of 15 Lot 38 full-rate production EA-18G aircraft and associated airborne electronic attack kits. Work will be performed in El Segundo, California (40.3 percent); St. Louis, Missouri (24.1 percent); Bethpage, New York (18.5 percent); Cleveland, Ohio (1.7 percent); Bloomington, Minnesota (1.5 percent); Mesa, Arizona (1.3 percent); Torrance, California (1.3 percent); Vandalia, Ohio (1.1 percent); Ajax, California (1.1 percent); Irvine, California (0.8 percent); Santa Clarita, California (0.6 percent); South Korea (0.6 percent); and various other locations in the continental U.S. (7.1 percent). Work is expected to be completed in January 2018. Fiscal 2015 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $897,530,175 are being obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

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US Navy Negotiating With Boeing to Slow Down EA-18G Growler Production to Preserve Production Line Through 2017

The U.S. Navy on Friday said it was in talks with Boeing Co about slowing production of its EA-18G electronic attack jets to keep the St. Louis facility running through the end of 2017, after Congress approved funding for 15 more planes.

The Navy is seeking to modify Boeing's existing contract for EA-18G jets, or Growlers, and F/A-18 Super Hornets to add the extra jets funded by Congress in the fiscal 2015 U.S. budget, said Rob Koon, spokesman for the Navy's Naval Air Systems Command.

President Obama on Tuesday signed the fiscal 2015 spending bill into law. It includes $1.46 billion for 15 more Growlers, and up to $100 million to cover the cost of slowing the current production rate from three to two aircraft a month.

By building two jets a month instead of three, Boeing will be able to stretch jet orders through the end of 2017, preserving the tooling and jobs associated with the line for as long as possible.

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