{"id":33294,"date":"2022-03-03T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-03T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2022\/03\/03\/navy-upping-its-aircraft-goals-beyond-former-defense-secretary-mattis-80-readiness-challenge\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:47:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:47:47","slug":"navy-upping-its-aircraft-goals-beyond-former-defense-secretary-mattis-80-readiness-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2022\/03\/03\/navy-upping-its-aircraft-goals-beyond-former-defense-secretary-mattis-80-readiness-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Navy upping its aircraft goals beyond former defense secretary Mattis\u2019 80% readiness challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>This story has been updated to include additional information from the vice chief of naval operations.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">SAN DIEGO \u2014 The U.S. Navy didn\u2019t sit tight when it reached a Pentagon goal to make 80% of its F\/A-18E-F Super Hornets mission-capable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It raised the bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Navy previously held up 341 as its north star for Super Hornet fleet readiness. This was based on the 80% challenge from former Defense Secretary James Mattis, but it didn\u2019t include aircraft in certain phases of maintenance or in certain squadrons that don\u2019t directly contribute to warfighting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, Commander of Naval Air Forces Vice Adm. Kenneth Whitesell told Defense News that the Navy is holding itself accountable to keep 360 Super Hornets mission-capable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The reason for the new number, he said, was to ensure the production of ready aircraft matches the needs of a potential fight the Navy could be called for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whitesell said the service created two separate models that led them to the 360 figure: one was the toughest operational plan, and the other was the Joint Staff readiness tables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whereas the 341 figure was a good start, but not based on a transparent methodology, Whitesell said 360 is \u201ca standardized set of numbers that, number one, was approved by the combatant commanders, and number two \u2014 with any mission-capable number, there\u2019s money attached to that because you got to maintain [the readiness rate] \u2014 so now we\u2019ve found something \u2026 that [the chief of naval operations\u2019 staff] could agree with, because they\u2019ve got to pay for it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asked how well the Navy had been able to maintain this newly recalculated 80% mission-capable rate, Whitesell said in a Feb. 15 interview it\u2019s been coming and going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re pushing up in the 350s, the high 340s to 350s. And we\u2019ve touched 360 about nine times since we changed the number to 360,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This new level of readiness comes after a decade of struggles. Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. William Lescher told lawmakers in a March 3 hearing that the Navy had just 250 mission capable jets from 2008 through 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe mission capable rate in 2018 was 55% because the inventory was over 500,\u201d he said, noting how far the Navy had come in even getting to 341 mission capable Super Hornets, let alone the new goal of 360.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Naval Sustainment System-Aviation (NSS-A) process itself is working, Whitesell said, but too many jets are caught up in a backlog either in Boeing\u2019s Super Hornet Service Life Modification program or waiting to be inducted into that program.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2022\/03\/02\/us-navy-confident-it-can-fix-its-fighter-jet-shortfall-and-avoid-another\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/5365913.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">US Navy confident it can fix its fighter jet shortfall \u2014 and avoid another<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The U.S. Navy has a carefully balanced plan to dig out of a fighter shortfall and stave off another in the 2030s \u2014 but several pieces must come together exactly as planned.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSo SLM, once we get it moving, that it gets to the 12- to 15-month delivery [per jet], it gets down to the $6- to $8-million cost for delivery, and we start that assembly line of SLM birds coming out \u2014 it\u2019s the inventory, not the process, that\u2019s driving the road to 360,\u201d Whitesell explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said there are seven pillars in NSS-A, and \u201cthe pillars are already operating at high RPM, and they\u2019re very efficient at what they do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Boston Consulting Group in 2018 worked with the Navy to revamp its jet maintenance processes to get better readiness outcomes without necessarily spending more money or requiring more people. Whitesell said he was pleased to see a clear culture change following BCG\u2019s efforts, which is now being managed internally by a transition and sustainment team that helps other aircraft communities create their own mission-capable goals and a plan to achieve that readiness rate. All the Navy\u2019s major aircraft types, along with some Marine Corps aircraft, are either following NSS-A now or have a plan to implement the process to boost their readiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cE-2D did a phenomenal job. Within about a month to six weeks, they\u2019d already made \u2014 they couldn\u2019t get above 10 or 11 E-2Ds up \u2014 and they rapidly got up to 28. Now we changed their number to 34,\u201d Whitesell said, noting that many E-2D Advanced Hawkeyes are in maintenance for software upgrades and that their return to the fleet will make it even easier to get to and stay at 34 mission-capable aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said the P-8A Poseidon community had been \u201con the sidelines watching it\u201d and immediately took to the NSS-A process when their community transitioned over. The MH-60 Romeo and Sierra helicopters aren\u2019t even formally transitioned over to the new model yet but are already performing above plan, he said, thanks to some sailors adept in data analytics who got a jump start on applying NSS-A principles to their helos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey watched what was going on, and they go: \u2018We can do this.\u2019 In fact, they helped us build some of our models, our maintenance models, and they\u2019re already operating at it \u2014 and we don\u2019t even consider them transitioned yet,\u201d Whitesell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of the seven pillars, one is cost transformation, and Whitesell believes that\u2019s where the Navy can make the biggest difference in taking control of its own readiness. Navy leadership has promised that any money saved within naval aviation due to better parts and processes can be reinvested elsewhere within naval aviation, leading to an even bigger incentive to find what\u2019s not working and make it better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe can\u2019t afford the ultimate [mission-capable] numbers that we have at this price we\u2019re paying today. We have to squeeze efficiencies out. And that is the 2022 focus for naval aviation, is the cost transformation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhere can we find efficiencies? Ruthlessly look at our processes, understand where we can do things faster, cheaper. We can make sure that parts are more reliable, working with primes as well as other contractors. We can look at how we operate them and what we\u2019re doing with some of the platforms, and then how we can squeeze some of the money out,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whitesell said VCNO Lescher, who leads the NSS efforts throughout the Navy, has told him that naval aviation cannot \u201cgo with hat in hand\u201d and ask for more money. \u201cHe goes, \u2018Stop asking for money. Go find ways within your organization, within the [type commands], where you can maintain your readiness with the funds that you have.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, Naval Air Forces is working with Naval Supply Systems Command to address what Whitesell said has the most potential to boost readiness and save money: parts that don\u2019t last as long as they\u2019re supposed to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NAVSUP has reliability control boards that look at this issue for a range of parts, and Naval Air Forces has asked them to do analyses on all its high-priority parts and its high fail-time parts to understand why they are breaking or wearing out faster than expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBecause of that, with E-2D, the parts we\u2019re talking about today are not the part we were talking about about seven or eight months ago. They found out why they failed and go back to the contractors, and they\u2019ve gone back and they\u2019ve implemented some repairs on those components, or changed the engineering, changed the design for them. So now they\u2019re on the wings \u2014 time on wing is what we\u2019re measuring right now \u2014 and ultimately, we just want things to stay on the wings the way they were designed. That, I think, is where we\u2019re going to find probably most of our efficiencies.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Navy didn\u2019t sit tight when it reached a Pentagon goal to make 80% of its F\/A-18E-F Super Hornets mission capable. It raised the bar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":72700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":16,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["your-military","news","home","left-column"],"primary_category":"your-military"},"7":{"categories":["your-navy","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters","left-column","home"],"primary_category":"your-navy"}}},"categories":[7,160,16,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3354],"class_list":["post-33294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air","category-daily-news-roundup","category-naval","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"BJWGC23KDRHBLBOYCON7PKDUXU","arc_canonical_url":"\/naval\/2022\/03\/03\/navy-upping-its-aircraft-goals-beyond-former-defense-secretary-mattis-80-readiness-challenge\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Navy upping its aircraft goals beyond former defense secretary Mattis\u2019 80% readiness challenge - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The U.S. Navy didn\u2019t sit tight when it reached a Pentagon goal to make 80% of its F\/A-18E-F Super Hornets mission capable. 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