War puts strain on Air Force’s aging fleet

[unhappycamper]

Capt. Kent Jensen, a pilot assigned to the 37th Airlift Squadron, flies a C-130 through the Rhine River valley in Germany during a routine training mission out of Ramstein Air Base in 2006. This C-130, built in 1963, is part of an aging U.S. Air Force fleet that is being further taxed by combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.


War puts strain on Air Force’s aging fleet
By Kent Harris and Jennifer Svan, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, April 6, 2008

Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld got into hot water in December 2004 while talking with soldiers in Kuwait about a lack of armor-plated vehicles for troops in Iraq.

“As you know, you go to war with the Army you have,” he said. “They’re not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time.”

The same statement could have been applied to the Air Force then. And even more so three years later.

The planes operating in the skies over Iraq and Afghanistan while Rumsfeld was speaking are still in use today. Some were in use before he assumed the job the first time — in 1975.

The war on terrorism “clearly is putting hours on our aircraft, our mobility fleet, some of our tanker fleets,” said Col. Bruce Litchfield, director of logistics for Pacific Air Forces. “They are working very hard. That is something to be concerned about.”


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=53864