VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A new report raises concerning questions about the Navy's Super Hornet fighter jets.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the newer "E" and "F" variants of F/A-18 Super Hornets aren't aging as well as their predecessors.
The report studied the percentage of time that Super Hornets were capable of being flown for training or missions after ten years of service.
Then, the CBO compared those numbers with how the earlier F/A-18 "C" and "D" Hornets did after ten years.
The conclusion? Super Hornets had roughly a 41% availability rate, compared to the 59% availability of legacy Hornets of the same age. That's a difference of 18 percentage points.
"The experiences of the oldest Super Hornets suggest that their availability is likely to continue to decline as the fleet ages," the report states.
However, on an up note, the report adds: "The Navy could take actions that might increase or stabilize the aircraft’s availability rate, such as increasing funding for maintenance."
Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach is the Navy's East Coast Master Jet Base, and it is home to 16 deployable F/A-18 Super Hornet Squadrons.