CNO: worries about aviation industrial base overstated.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: WASHINGTON PULSE: NEWS FROM INSIDE THE BELTWAY

Among the contentious items in the Navy's budget is how long the service should continue to buy Boeing-made F/A-18E/F Super Hornet jet fighters. The official Navy position is that once it begins buying Lockheed-made F-35s in a few years, it will no longer purchase Super Hornets. But Boeing and its supporters on Capitol Hill are fighting to keep the F/A-18 line open indefinitely, arguing that the Pentagon needs two tactical aircraft manufacturers to stay in business so there can be competition. Boeing ally Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., says the F-18 is one-third the price of an F-35 and has 80 percent of the capability.

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But Navy...