In a typical case of the bureaucracy run amok, the Pentagon has paid an Arizona contractor $900,000 to shred retired F-14’s that have been heaped upon the Davis-Monthan boneyard.
A mechanical monster grabs the F-14 fighter jet and chews through one wing and then another, ripping off the Tomcat’s appendages before moving onto its guts. Finally, all that’s left is a pile of shredded rubble ‚Äî like the scraps from a Thanksgiving turkey.
Silly bureaucracy.
I’d have done the job for free.
geez, they must really be worried about spares getting to iran.
would you do it in air-to-air mode or air-to ground?
Shouldn’t they go to museums first? And I thought they kept some of the “newer” aircraft on a sort of inactive reserve, filling their fuel tanks with a preservative and covering the important parts so they can be activated within 30 days or something. You know, in case we need a bunch of combat aircraft all of the sudden. I guess they’ll never make Top Gun 2.
No, there’s a big hurry to destroy equipment once it’s out of service now. It might interfere with getting a new contract or something. Everything has to be “de milled.” Try buying a surplus HMMWV, although anyone who wants one should be sentenced to driving them full time…
[...] See, what did I tell you? But to be fair, he went one better…Maybe the F-14 challenges his fighter-pilotness or [...]
What Pogue said…20 and a few year old ships are already fish reef…and have been for several years….MAKE WAY FOR THE LITTLE CRAPPY SHIPS!
Oh, Lord! You like to live dangerously, don’t you? I’ll have to check the comments later tonight… that is, if they haven’t burned the page completely off the internet.
Lex,
thing is, I’d have loved to get my hands on a couple of F-14 seats. I’d add upholstery and set ‘em up in the TV room. Great conversation pieces, ya know?
I’m not upset about seeing them tore up, though, as long as a few are kept up for display, museums, etc.
Seriously, though, what good would they be to keep in the fleet? I mean, really, if the Iranians can fly them…….
Respects,
Two things for the discussion: Think of the possible targets, Lex! Can you imagine the thrill of shooting down a Tomcat? And I can’t wait for Pinch to show up…his reply should be a good one.
LOL, u tell ‘em Pogue. There’s nothing quite like sitting next to that transfer case on a nice warm day.
I read that the Feds destroyed all of their Thompson SMGs back in 1976, rather than surplus ‘em out. They say transferable M1928s are well over $20,000 now.
I think Pogue might be onto something. We usta have a huge fleet of DECOM ships that could be reactivated in short order(well, kinda short order if by short order you mean about 6 months) but now there is a very small fleet of those ships available. Much like the F-14 we have pretty much wrung all the life out of those platforms. The conventional wisdom is to get rid of them lest some enterprising Congressional staffer get the wild hair to suggest that we put them back in service. Then again, I do believe that the Iranian connection has some validity. I remember reading some items about this several months ago.
mmm, not good, especially if one notices that the former squadron of the beast being dissected in the video was VF-14 (Tophatters) – Pinch’s sqdn on JFK… might want to seek deep shelter and don MOPP gear
- SJS
We should give them to Iran for free as incentive to stop their nuclear program.
*runs for cover*
I saw the video here:
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/07/02/shredding.tomcats.ap/index.html
I just ate and now I feel sick…ugh
“Hey Pinch, look what Lex left in the litter box!”
Those of us who shed sweat and blood (and now tears) maintaining or flying the Tomcat are not amused.
My understanding is that they are shreding only the F-14 “A”s (the airframe/configuration the Iranians have) to prevent parts from getting into the wrong hands. The “B”s and “D”s are being held in reserve (unless there has been a change in policy).
As for Tomcats on Display in museums, there are many. But most have been de-mil’d and are basically empty shells. Don’t know if the frames being destroyed at D-M were de-mil’d prior to this ignoble end.
Rick, I think (and hope) that Lex is only pretending to rejoice in the destruction of Naval Aircraft which might still be somewhat useful against our country’s enemies.
I really really do hope that is so.
I’ll admit they’re very old and nobody makes magnetic bubble memories anymore.
Not sure what we’ll do when it comes time to recycling Hornets with all them complex composites and whatnot. Melt them into park benches and lightweight walkers for the old “FAG’s” home? A trip to DM is just no fun whatsoever. Sure it’s neat to see a few of the use-ta-flys, but like dropping ol’ Trigger off at the glue factory, you just know he’s going to get it in the end.
http://www.dm.af.mil/units/amarc.asp
[...] for those who say they’d do the job for free, if the thing has to be done it needs to be done properly and in as expeditious a manner as [...]
Byron Audler posed the idea of using them for targets. F-14s are too complex to remote. Now that we are about to run out of QF-4s, we are going to QF-16s (yup, there are already hundreds in the boneyard). They will do until we figure out how to build a decent 5th gen target, without breaking the bank. QF-22, anyone? Burt Rutan has a design already. Talk about out of the box…
Justthisguy,
I’m pretty sure Lex is just engaging in some good natured inter-fleet rib poking. Pinch is pretty good at it too (see link in comment 19). It is the way they are going about the destruction that I’m not too amused with.
It seems to me that Lex may be, dare I say it, jealous, of the Grumman bird. How many air to air kills have Tomcat drivers racked up vis-a-vis Hornet kills? (see answer here: http://www.worldaffairsboard.com/military-aviation/9592-modern-air-air-kill-record-thread.html) Maybe it’s that ‘always a bridesmaid, never a bride’ thing eating at our humble scribe.
/BeachBum
tongue FIRMLY in cheek
PS Oh yah, now and always have been a civilian, so I have no irons in the fire here.
Sorry folks, anyone who has read this blog knows full well the good Cap’n is NOT a Tomcat lover. I truely believe he would be first in line to fly an air-to-mud sortie (or several) to place bomblets on F-14 airframes with the skill and panache of a true believer in single-seat, fighter/attack aircraft.
As for the Iranians and their limited number of flyable F-14As? I still haven’t seen the aircraft that can out duel the SPY-1D/SPG-62A combination.
Hey G8R,
You said “F-14s are too complex to remote.”
Not sure I agree. B/Ds had digital flight controls, how hard would it be to “Q” them?
Byron might be onto something. I knew an A-6 guy who transitioned to Hornets (after he had the appropriate emasculatory surgery) said that during an Air Wing det to Fallon, he put a MK-76 through the canopy of an A-6 that he had actually flown. (A6 was sitting on the “runway” of one of the target airfields.) He pointed out that he put the blue bomb though the BN’s side of the canopy.
Also, not really sure we need to keep any “in reserve” as it would take much longer to produce a viable pilot than it would to produce a viable Strike Fighter. Perhaps we are holding some for possible future sales (like the A-7s we sold just a few years back).
Nose
Actually what I meant, was give them to the Iranians. THEN conduct target practice
Senior D.
It’s been my experience that the old SPY-1 can track just about anything.
Anything that is squaking, that is. I thumped an Aegis in an E-2 for Pete’s sake. They never saw me coming and my RCS is only slightly larger than that of a house!
N
SeniorD,
I’ve been reading our good host’s musings for quite some time now an I’m well aware he is not a Tomcat fan. I would expect nothing less from a Hornet driver. I have no doubt that he would be first in line to fly a GBU strike on a worth-while target. Even if it is in the Boneyard!
Way back in these pages, I recounted finding Lex in a briefing room following a 1v1 hop with a Tomcat (Lex drove a lawndart). Lex had been picking on the RAG students, and was waiting for them to arrive before he began the further humiliation known as debriefing. In his HUD tape, filling the whole screen, was a Tomcat out of airspeed and ideas. The pipper and that squiggly line moved perfectly in synch, back and forth from the pilot’s head to the RIO’s head, back and forth, back and forth, and Lex could be heard musing, “Which do I kill first?”
No, Lex never had much love for the aluminum cloud.
Nose-
No Tomcat will ever fly again for us or any other nation except maybe as a stunt or a legacy airshow circuit. Their fatigue life is used up. Especially the ones with DFCS, LANTIRN and all the bells and whistles. They were rode hard since 2001 and put up wet. We used ‘em up and the taxpayers should be pleased..War reserve at AMARC is only good for a few years..
All the usable Intruders were made into a reef to hide the evidence and the Viking has been going to the desert these past years with another, unused service life on the airframe. No justice thar- sort of like Scooters travesy IMO… H-3 is the hottest legacy for FMS right now. F-18 and P-3 FMS are just bidnesses..
BTW, the Greeks flew A-7’s for a while but I think they have moved on.. (Hornets mebbe?)
Zane,
re- “never had much love for the aluminum cloud.”
I’m sure it had to do with the new kid on the block syndrome..versus those who would be the Kings of Miramar. Of course Lex finally made it to SanDog via Lee-More, sorta like the Joad’s roadtrip! LOL. He stands atop that ash-heap surveying all the vanquished. Long live Hornet-Sharia!
b2
Bob,
“All the usable Intruders were made into a reef to hide the evidence”
That is about the greatest thing I’ve ever heard you say – and i think you say some pretty great things.
N
What Nose said, about what B^2 said! I remember when that happened, and how annoyed I was. Hmm, I wonder how deep they are?…
P.s. Yah, any swing-wing airplane leads a hard life. Hey it coulda been worse, with the TFX, and all.
And Robert Strange McNamara is still alive. I’ll not write what I think about him, ladies or USAF Websense might be reading
Nose,
I’ve earned my cynicism stripes da hard way but I’m still a team player we all are.
However, sometimes I’m dismayed when the “victors” in this zero-sum game try to re-write history…
b2