Boeing will only build 16 more Super Hornets instead of the 20 the Navy ordered before shutting down its production line, US media reported Thursday.
The shortfall in production was caused by a dispute over property rights, Representative Mike Garcia, a member of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee and a former Super Hornet pilot, revealed to US media.
The Biden administration reportedly wants to purchase a full 20 Super-Hornets in order to maintain shrinking combat capabilities, but Boeing is insisting on ending production in 2025 in order to switch its resources into new technologies.
Congress appropriated funding for 12 Super Hornets in fiscal 2022 and eight more in Fiscal Year 2023 for jets that the Navy did not even ask for. But the service decided to use the deal in a last-ditch effort to gain data rights that it said were needed to perform maintenance on the aircraft in case of a war with China over Taiwan.