As first reported in Armed Force Journal, an article in the Boston Globe on May 17 alleged that there are "costly flaws" in Super Hornet F/A-18 strike fighters that could cut their lifetime flight hours in half.

However, according to Patricia Frost, a spokeswoman for Boeing Naval Systems in St. Louis, "The Boston Globe article has many misstatements. Boeing and the U.S. Navy expect the Super Hornet and the EA-18G to meet or exceed their 6,000-hour design life."

The Globe reported that "a mechanism inside the wings of the F/A-18 [E and F] Super Hornet … is wearing out prematurely" — a problem that, if uncorrected, "would drastically shorten the $50 million aircraft's life span from 6000 hours to 3000 hours."

Boeing and the Navy acknowledged that the problem has been detected and that repairs have already been incorporated in new aircraft and will be retrofitted into older planes.

"The U.S. Navy identified a pylon fitting in the wing of the F/A-18 E and F model Super Hornet where fatigue could potentially shorten the wing's expected service life and is implementing a corrective measure," said Chuck Wagner, a spokesman with the Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, Md.

The fitting is part of the lower wing spar and is used to reinforce the area where stores attach to the wing. The potential problem was identified through an engineering analysis in 2003 and subsequent testing in 2005, which are part of routine risk-mitigation processes for the aircraft's development.

The Navy and Boeing are said to be working together on a fully funded project so that today every aircraft coming off the production line is being delivered with the solution that corrects for the potential future fatigue. A retrofit solution for the earlier aircraft in the fleet is planned for 2009 and will correct the identified wing area prior to these aircraft reaching the flight-hour threshold at which fatigue could potentially be an issue.

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