The Boneyard

Berlusconi's fascisti chums must've needed the hand-out.

...The military has to prioritize, and I'm sure the USAF decided to cut these planes (whose capabilities are STOL on unimproved runways) because we're winding down in Afghanistan and they're not needed.

According to Wikipedia the USAF is trying to get the USCG and the Forest Service to take them.

Not exactly state of the art fire fighting equipment.....



They have been bought, they have been paid for and there are places they could be put to work....

Fighting fires with aging tankers from another era

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-wildfire-tankers-20130929-dto,0,6987217.htmlstory#axzz2lrJ3b0eR

- Tell me about it.

K&R

They are maintained in flying condition. There are other government agencies and foreign countries presently negotiating to purchase them. SOOCOM just took eight of them.

Lets put their sale moneys into the Food bank system! BUt that ill never happen.

Budget responsibity for maintenance would transfer from the Air Force to the Army.

They are in temp storage while some deals are being cut on what to do with them.

The U.S. Forest Service and the Coast Guard both have been trying to swing them- and it looks like they may have a three-way swap deal about to be done.

See http://fireaviation.com/tag/c-27j/

http://www.armytimes.com/article/20131126/NEWS/311260025/Army-releases-RFP-new-armored-vehicle

Another $1.8 billion dollars down the shithole.

Your point is well taken and very well made but the original news report is problematic about the planes themselves.

The "boneyard" at Davis-Monthan AFB is operated by the 309th AMARG (Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group) and has three principle functions.

1. Long Term Storage : Planes that arrive for storage are washed, clocks and data plates removed and the boxes of documentation that go with each airframe carefully stored. They get fluids drained, hoses checked, sealed in spray on familiar white latex and towed out onto the flight apron for storage. The "boneyard" itself is roughly half of Davis-Monthan with the flight apron on west side of the base. It is an incredible sight, row after row of planes, mothballed for future use.

2. Storage for Repurpose : Some of the planes in the "boneyard" go through conversion to other uses. They may re-purpose a fighter into a drone or a research airframe destined for NASA. Some planes get reconditioned and prepared for museums.

The 309th AMARG tries to keep at least one of every airframe in its inventory in part because of their historical value. The Pima Air and Space Museum sits adjacent to the Davis-Monthan and with over 300 airframes in its inventory is one of the largest non-Governmental air and space museums.

3. Storage for Reclamation : The older airframes which will never again fly can end up in the desert section on the east side. This is where planes are stored to be "parted out". When older airframes need repair or replacement parts, they can salvage from the inventory in the desert and ship the replacement out to the maintenance center requesting it within days.

Given that the C27J's (a beautiful and versatile airframe) are brand new I expect that they are ending up on the west side on the apron. They may be there only a year or two but when they peel off the latex, check the hoses and refill the fluids, they will be airborne in a week or two.

the unholy relationship between Congressional approvers who budget the waste to insure votes at home, the industries to pay those politicians off and lobby for the waste, and the military who wants to make sure their budgets don't suffer. The military has to make sure they spend all their monies or endanger their chances for the same amount in the next year. Spend it or lose it.

Then again, workers make planes, workers make wages, workers pay taxes, taxes are spent on planes (even if they sit in the desert) and the economy goes on and on. What a cycle. It's a make-work world out there . Shame it can't be redirected toward social issues.

... jobs will be lost if we quit spending money on military is a non-starter.

With the world's largest military, surpassing the world's 6th other military. couldn't agree with you more.
However, as much as I do agree, the teachers, snow-plow drivers,road builders, etc., do not have the lobby or the power of the air-plane builders and the tank manufactures which built - I believe- many hundred excess tanks the military didn't need or want.
Seems like we had a post on trillions of dollars wasted and nonexistant audits over the years in the military just last week.

K&R