U.S. airmen conduct post-fight checks on a U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon as it returns from a combat-training mission during Red Flag-Alaska 12-2 on Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, June 18, 2012. Pacific Air Forces sponsors the exercise, which takes place in the Joint Pacific Range Complex over Alaska and a portion of Western Canada for a total airspace of more than 67,000 square miles. The U.S. airmen are assigned to the 51st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, Osan Air Base, South Korea. DOD photo by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Michael R. Holzworth
USAF Aircraft Are Too Expensive To Fly -- Eric Palmer Blog
The S-word is coming up. $50B has to be pulled from the U.S. DOD budget every year. Maybe more as budget reality comes home to roost. And, our USAF has many aircraft that are just too expensive to fly. So much so that the service should seriously consider how it wants to support each of its flying missions: training, airlift, tankers, helos, special mission/special purpose, close air support, long-range bombing, ISR, and fighters. Given the money to be saved, I would add a new mission: air policing. This would be at-home air defense to responded to non-traditional military threats. Do we really need a 5-figure cost per flying hour jet to push a Cessna out of the way?
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My Comment: These numbers are just jaw-dropping. If these numbers are accurate .... in an age of austerity there is no way that the U.S. Air Force can maintain such a fleet .... not even close.
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