[SteveR]

It's the Navy's own fault. They had a cheap and effective way to extent the service life of the F-14 Tomcat and outfit them as D models, but for some reason they decided to scrap the entire fleet, and spend billions and billions on the Super Hornet Es and Fs. Sure, they're great planes, and yes, they're configurable for multiple roles, but the cost associated with the R&D to do so and the delays mean that only the F/A-18E & F planes in service now have been outfitted as high altitude presicion light bombers, interceptors, and ground support attack planes. The F/A/E-18G has yet to surface, and none of them can perform the heavy munitions role that the F-14 did. The whole idea was to have one style airframe to reduce maintenance costs, and yes that makes sense, but you have to have the airframes in service in order for that theory to work. Instead, the Navy decided to scrap its primary fighter and not provide enough in-service airframes to reduce maintenance issues. now they have to pull out old retired planes. Sounds great. Sounds like the Navy is one step above the Canadian Air Force.