(Graphic and caption from the Air Force Association)
Air frames can be repaired and retrofitted to correct structural deficiencies, but there is a limit to what can be done to counter the physical aging process of any mechanical system including, and perhaps especially, aircraft. The current F-15 issues may only be the tip of the iceberg, given the ages of the aircraft in the Air Force’s fleet. The charts on pages 63 and 64 of the current Air Force Almanac show the average ages of the USAF and Air National Guard’s inventories (pdf alert). You’ll note the F-15, with an average of (just!) 19.7 years is less than half that of the B-52 (44.8 years) or the KC-135 (44.5 years)…and that’s in the regular Air Force. The Guard and Reserve fare much worse, given as how they tend to fly aircraft quite a bit older than the Regular AF.
USAF’s senior leadership have been warning…for years…that the service faces a major fiscal challenge in the recapitalization of the fleet, an effort that will require billions and billions of dollars, not to mention time. It’s a serious problem:
After four years in
Such was the import of somber public remarks from the service’s senior officials at the Air Force Association’s annual Air Warfare Symposium in
The Air Force must find a way to sustain today’s creaking equipment, modernize the force with next generation systems, and provide airmen to support the proposed addition of 92,000 troops to the Army and Marine Corps.
It must do all of this with what officials openly concede is an inadequate budget for Fiscal Year 2008, which begins on Oct. 1, and years beyond.
Read the whole thing, as it’s said. The bottom line is we’re sending our Best and Brightest up to fight in aircraft that, in some instances, are much older than the pilots and aircrew themselves.
That ain’t right.
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