Northrop Grumman Taps Long Island Company to Begin Production of First F/A-18F Super Hornet for Royal Australian Air Force
Northrop Grumman Corporation has begun production of major structural components for the first F/A-18F Super Hornet strike fighter aircraft
for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).On Feb. 5, GKN Aerospace-Monitor, a premier supplier to Northrop Grumman, began machining the first wing bulkhead, one of three titanium bulkheads that hold the F/A-18 wings in place. The government of Australia is purchasing 24 F/A-18Fs from the United States in the first international procurement of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. Northrop Grumman is principal subcontractor to The Boeing Company on the F/A-18 program. The wing bulkheads will be shipped to Northrop Grumman's state-of-the-art production facility in El Segundo, Calif., where the company produces the F/A-18E/F's center/aft fuselage section and twin vertical tails and integrates all associated subsystems. Northrop Grumman expects to begin assembling the first Super Hornet fuselage shipset for Australia in late March. |
