No . a Snickers <| sep |> No , the contract will not be put out for tender means they ' re solesourcing it , since there ' s no other aircraft that meets the operational requirements put forth by NDHQ . If there are a number of planes from different vendors that meet the operational requirements , then it goes to tender and the companies bid . With the F 35 , NDHQ procurement specialists were pretty much pushed to inflate the mission requirements so that the F 35 was the only plane that met them . For example , if you put stealth capability as one of the operational requirements , Super Hornets are excluded , since they ' re not stealth capable . It appears to me they ' ve reduced the operational requirements to something reasonable , attainable , and fiscally responsible . Super Hornets are the best choice until the F 35 is refined .