USA take action to decommission hundreds of outdated and disabled aircraft

US Air Force to decommission 160 disabled and outdated aircraft

The Pentagon intends to decommission about 160 combat aircraft in 2022.

According to military observer Andrei Kots, the condition of the fleet of the US Air Force fleet is far from being perfect, RIA Novosti reports. For example, A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft, which have been in production since 1977, do nothing but collect dust. It goes about 280 aircraft here, but it is still impossible to get rid of those vehicles.

It is expected that the US will decommission 160 all-weather F-15C/DEagle F-16C/D and Fighting Falcon fighters next year. The Pentagon is going to bid goodbye to 20 RQ-4 Global Hawk Block-30 drones due to their high repair costs and component problems.

Only six out of 62 B-1 Lancer bombers remain combat-ready. Outdated military hardware is costly for the defense budget, and the Pentagon has managed to order the decommissioning of most outdated models so far.

The United States owns the largest fleet of military aircraft in the world — about 5,800 aircraft, and this accounts for the US Air Force alone. Many of those aircraft are over 30 years of age. They take space in hangars and require finance for repairs. It just so happens that technicians have to maintain the aircraft that are actually useless.

According to regulations, at least 80 percent of aircraft must be ready to take off at any moment. From 2011 to 2019, inspectors checked 46 types of aircraft and helicopters, and it turned out that only three models could more or less meet the requirements.

As many as 24 types of various aircraft have never been able to achieve 80-percent combat readiness in nine years. It goes about F-16 fighters, MV-22 Osprey tiltrotors, E-2 Hawkeye deck-based reconnaissance aircraft, and many others. To crown it all, the combat readiness of eleven types of aircraft could not exceed 55 percent.

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