Washington, DC – Today the House Armed Services Subcommittee, marked up H.R. 2647, which authorizes appropriations for FY2010 for military activities of the Department of Defense. Todd Akin (R-MO), ranking member on the House Armed Service’s Seapower Subcommittee, successfully requested that the provision for authorization of a multi-year procurement for the F/A-18 Super Hornet be included by the Seapower Subcommittee’s markup of the FY2010 Defense Authorization.

The provision authorizes the Department of Defense to enter into a multi-year procurement of F-18 Super Hornets and authorizes $108 million for advanced procurement to reduce the overall cost per aircraft in the fleet. A typical multi-year is for five years and represents roughly 150 aircraft.

Congressman Akin, who has been a fierce champion of the F/A-18 Super Hornet and who previously spearheaded the inclusion of Super Hornets into the fleet as the EA-18G "Growler" stated that he would continue to fight for the Super Hornet because of its tremendous contribution to national defense capabilities.

"I want the red, white and blue defended, and building additional F-18 Super Hornets to address our looming fighter shortfall is critical to doing that," said Akin. "The F/A-18 has multiple configurations which give it maximum punch in battle."

"Current projections give the Navy a shortfall of more that 240 fighters until the JSF comes on line," said Akin. "That means that at least five of our eleven aircraft carriers will be without fighters."

"Such a deficit is unacceptable from a national defense perspective," said Akin. "Moreover, with authorization for a multi-year procurement and advanced purchasing reducing overall cost it makes no sense financially to overlook the Super Hornet as the answer to our looming fighter shortfall."