Quote:The Pentagon is sending $50 million cargo planes straight from the assembly line to mothballs because it has no use for them, yet it still hasn’t stopped ordering the aircraft, according to a report.
A dozen nearly new Italian-built C-27J Spartans have been shipped to an Air Force facility in Arizona dubbed “the boneyard,” and five more currently under construction are likely headed for the same fate, according to an investigation by the Dayton Daily News. The Air Force has spent $567 million on 21 of the planes since 2007, according to purchasing officials at Dayton’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Of those, 16 have been delivered – with almost all sent directly to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, where some 4,400 aircraft and 13 aerospace vehicles, with a total value of more than $35 billion, sit unused.
The C-27J has the unique capability of taking off and landing on crude runways, Ethan Rosenkranz, national security analyst at the Project on Government Oversight, told the newspaper. But with sequestration dictating Pentagon cuts, the planes were deemed a luxury it couldn't afford.
Or the stupidity of the Department of Defense and the lobbyists who continue to pursue money from there. They are inefficient at everything they do... and I live in Dayton, Ohio, where a ton of people are employed by the DOD.
The army also has said they don't need any more abrams tanks, but congress gave them funding anyway because several GOP represented districts manufacture the tanks and components for the tanks. Not ordering them meant layoffs or shutdowns.
Our representatives look out for their districts at the expense of the rest of the country. Both sides do it all the time. If they don't, they'll be voted out for not defending jobs in their district. Another unintended consequence of not having term limits.
"They are too near completion for a termination to be cost effective and other government agencies have requested the aircraft," Mayer told the paper.
That was from the article. Looks like many/most could be used in other areas and appears to be some maneuvering on where to move them within the government that hasn't been settled yet.
Beats the hell outta me why they are going to the boneyard. They perhaps go to Delta Air Lines to augment their lousy service to MEM.
Southwest can't get here soon enough.
These could be used for forest fire fighting too, I would think. They gotta be inexpensive to buy, fly and use in many applications.
Just hop on a Fed Ex plane.
Btw, they were trying to get them for forest fire fighting. It was in my link. The Coast Guard was also interested but they aren't part of the DoD so transferring them there would be/could be a problem based on rules.
Wrong again. We SPENT (past tense) billions on the F22 for about 2 years, and then Obama got reelected.
Lockheed handed him a pile of money for his 2012 campaign so the fledgling F22 program was cancelled for the crappy F35 program, which made Lockheed Billions you referred to.
Oh, and F22s can fly in the rain. They had an oxygen problem which has been resolved, as I'm sure you knew but lied about.
Wrong again. We SPENT (past tense) billions on the F22 for about 2 years, and then Obama got reelected.
Lockheed handed him a pile of money for his 2012 campaign so the fledgling F22 program was cancelled for the crappy F35 program, which made Lockheed Billions you referred to.
Oh, and F22s can fly in the rain. They had an oxygen problem which has been resolved, as I'm sure you knew but lied about.
I don't know much about military equipment, but I know at one point they were having problems flying in sand. Was that ever resolved?
No matter what they fixed or didn't fix, the F22 program cannot be considered anything other than a tremendous failure.
I didn't even know we scrapped them for something new though.
Quote:The Pentagon is sending $50 million cargo planes straight from the assembly line to mothballs because it has no use for them, yet it still hasn’t stopped ordering the aircraft, according to a report.
A dozen nearly new Italian-built C-27J Spartans have been shipped to an Air Force facility in Arizona dubbed “the boneyard,” and five more currently under construction are likely headed for the same fate, according to an investigation by the Dayton Daily News. The Air Force has spent $567 million on 21 of the planes since 2007, according to purchasing officials at Dayton’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Of those, 16 have been delivered – with almost all sent directly to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, where some 4,400 aircraft and 13 aerospace vehicles, with a total value of more than $35 billion, sit unused.
The C-27J has the unique capability of taking off and landing on crude runways, Ethan Rosenkranz, national security analyst at the Project on Government Oversight, told the newspaper. But with sequestration dictating Pentagon cuts, the planes were deemed a luxury it couldn't afford.
And to think there are still people who are against cutting defense spending.
(10-07-2013 02:30 PM)Niner National Wrote: [ -> ]I don't know much about military equipment, but I know at one point they were having problems flying in sand. Was that ever resolved?
No matter what they fixed or didn't fix, the F22 program cannot be considered anything other than a tremendous failure.
I didn't even know we scrapped them for something new though.
"Flying in the sand"? Is that a serious question? If so, I've never heard anything about that.
The only reason the program is a failure is because it was cancelled before we saw any return (much like Constellation).
Obama cancelled EVERYTHING Bush did that could be viewed as beneficial out of SPITE. Not to hard to believe now eh?
