Potential sabotage incident on two E-8 J-STARS

The Air Force and Northrop Grumman are investigating potential sabotage to two E-8 aircraft. One of the aircraft was in scheduled maintenance, when severed wires were found (no word on where). During subsequent checks to another aircraft, another group of wires was found severed.

It's not uncommon to find wire damage on an aircraft, especially older aircraft, but it's usually chafing, or maybe one cut wire. This sounds like it was several, our even a bundle that was cut.

www.flightglobal.com...

reply to post by Zaphod58
Could very well be a bored/drunk maintenance worker

Without knowing where this happened on board it's hard to say.

on the f-15 ive seen an entire wire harness (we call it the donkey d**k) on the nose wheel strut. it was routed incorrectly and was sheared clean by the retracting gear. aircraft have A LOT of moving parts, so yes, without knowing where, it is hard to tell.

On the heavies I worked on, we usually only saw one, maybe two wires cut through something onboard. They were surprisingly quick about getting word out about potential routing problems, etc.

reply to post by hp1229


It very well could be. Or someone thinking that if they created a problem them they'd have to bring then to the dept to fix, and everyone keeps their job.

It was originally thought to be four aircraft, but now they say just the two. I also heard it may be in the comms area. They said it was "a few tens of wires". It's reported that they have a suspect, but no motive, and OSI is investigating. I think they've seen enough accidental damage to be able to tell when it's an accident or not. I don't see them saying sabotage without being pretty sure it is.

warnerrobinspatriot.com...

warnerrobinspatriot.com...