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Waste, fraud and abuseIn 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.
Silly bureaucracy. I’d have done the job for free. 32 comments to Waste, fraud and abuse |
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Copyright © 2009 Neptunus Lex - All Rights Reserved |
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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.
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.
[...] 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.
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
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
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