Amazing, our "scraps" blow most nations air power out of the water.

one does have to wonder why they aren't being used and yes some still work they are oiled up every so often,,

they could be an aid in the iraq war!!

but yet again give the soldiers no equippy

one does have to wonder why they aren't being used and yes some still work they are oiled up every so often,,

they could be an aid in the iraq war!!

but yet again give the soldiers no equippy

Originally posted by jumpingbeanz
one does have to wonder why they aren't being used and yes some still work they are oiled up every so often,,

they could be an aid in the iraq war!!

but yet again give the soldiers no equippy

They aren't used because its very expensive to keep older aircraft flying.

In some cases they were withdrawn because they had reached their fatigue hours limit, and the aircraft were mothballed for spare parts or future replacement of a front line aircraft.

In other cases they were withdrawn because of technical issues that would be costly to fix, such as major wingbox replacements due to cracking etc.

In a few cases they were withdrawn because of funding issues, such as the several B-1Bs in storage.

They are still kept mothballed in all cases because its worth it - currently the US Navy are replacing some newer F-18s with mothballed aircraft as the newer ones are having to go back to Boeing for replacement structural components, and an older replacement aircraft is better than none. Quite a few B-1Bs were returned to service after funding was restored.

The other, lesser reason they are kept is in case they are needed - if the US got into a major long term war, they could return a lot of mothballed aircraft to less stressful activities in a very short amount of time.

One excellent reason to keep them 'as-is' rather than dismantle them for parts, is that every so often a new USAF or Navy budget will allow for a new target drone conversion update, such as the QF-16 one currently beign setup. Mothballed aircraft are taken out of storage, fitted with a drone kit and sent up to be shot down.

[edit on 17/3/2010 by RichardPrice]

Just need to mothball the f-18s and bring back the f-14s

o0 I have an idea. When F-18s are being repaired use F-14s as the backup jets. Win Win situation. Lots of people who like the Tomcats happy that they are being used again. Military happy because Tomcats aren't being used as much so repair costs are lower. Hell they could even use them for long range missions.