Veteran Flight Tester On How The YA-7F Strikefighter Was Really A Jet Recycling Program
The YA-7F program aimed to field a new battlefield interdiction jet for pennies on the dollar by using spare engines and airframes. And it worked.
The YA-7F program aimed to field a new battlefield interdiction jet for pennies on the dollar by using spare engines and airframes. And it worked.
Concern over the stability of America’s shipbuilding industrial base is one major factor driving the plan.
The FFG(X) competition is heating up and proven foreign designs are being remodeled into very promising U.S. Navy-specific configurations. Fincantieri FREMM frigate, in particular, is a proven and highly adaptable design that seems to check all the Navy’s boxes.
The requirements have expanded, but the service is pushing for commonality with existing systems to push the price point down.
The investigation into the accident is still ongoing, but it has already uncovered confusion on the bridge and design flaws in the ship.
The FFG(X) program is well underway as the Navy selects five vendors to fully conceptualize their designs before making a final pick in 2019.