Warbird Information Exchange

In a word, yes. They are pushed harder for longer than training. I speak mainly of SOF because that's what I'm most familiar with, but I know we aged the MC-130H years during the first month of both OEF & OIF. Flying them at emergency wartime weights (which is already 20K more than max gross weight) - routinely - at low-level. I've even taken off 7K above emergency wartime weight so I could make a landing at emergency wartime weight.

In the late '90s, we identified the MC-130H wingbox as requiring replacement by 2015. Too far away, so we didn't do anything. We even skipped depot cycles because the planes were in such great shape. Then OEF/OIF and we've got planes whose wings are hurting. It's about $9M & 10 months to replace a wing box on a herk...this isn't a quick fix.


Of course there are some. The older E-model Herks have had new wings twice in their 45 year lives, but now they're going to AMARC instead. J-model is the future.

The acquisition program is fatally flawed. It's a vicious circle of bureaucrats, big business, & goverment - things get drawn out, over-priced, & compromised far too often. Sometimes, things don't turn out because future technology doesn't mature as quickly as anticipated, but more often than not, it's simply poor acquisition practices.

The J-model & Osprey are great examples of the long, drawn-out acquisition process (F22 isn't quite as bad as these two IMO). The biases that seem so blatant are borderling unbelievable - look at CSAR-X. A chinook? Really? Why not an Osprey - makes much more sense than any RW asset for CSAR - yet it isn't even in contention.

There seems to be a lack of acountability at both the government & contractor levels. Couple this with an apparent lack of foresight by anyone of any authority & the future is grim.

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Daddy always said, "If yer gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough" and I'm one tough sonofagun!

Well, I'm a fighter guy so that's naturally where my heart is going to be...

BUT...

I acknowledge that other weapon systems -- both in the air and on the ground -- are also aging, broken, and in need of replacement just as significantly.

I think it is the general public that needs to 'wake up' and understand that the US' self-generated hype in the post-Desert Storm era was true 17 years ago, but NOT NOW.

It should really say something to everyone both inside and outside Big Blue that words coming from an AFSOC guy and from an ACC guy (okay, really USAFE, but who is counting) completely agree.

Sorry to hear that AFSOC is in the same boat. You guys always seemed like the only ones who scoffed all of the standard "blue" AF crap in favor of a mission-first attitude. Sounds like that is waning or gone entirely.

Yeah, my apologies on this one -- you asked about a book, and I launched into a tirade without even having read the information. Sorry 'bout that!

I'm interested...I'll put in an Amazon order and read it.

Randy wrote:



Can't wait to hear what you think. Another interesting aspect of this book is that Tillman thinks the dirty little secret in the Pentagon is that by their flawed aquisition choices, they have done away almost completely with the "Fighter" mission and converted the mission to what would have clearly been considered "Attack" in the past. A mission that much of the Fighters were never really designed for, and this has put additional stress on airframes that has reduced the life of already stressed capabilities, both men and machine.

All the best, Randy.

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Eric

"I spent most of my money on alcohol, women and skyraiders....and the rest of it I just wasted."

Ahh, yes - the good ole days. One of my crusty old Flt Engineers (now retired) used to love saying, "We used to f*ck women & drink whiskey. Now we drink diet coke & f*ck each other." The really sad part is, he's right.

Prior to OEF, we had rules, but they were like the quote, for the guidance of wise men & the obedience of fools. Back then, it was more like - mission first, the rules will sort themselves out. No way you could do that these days.

In the late '90s, I actually had a SQ/CC give me three planes & crews, tell me to go away for a week, figure out how to do something we'd never done before (4-ship fingertip, in chem gear, at 100' on NVGs) & just be careful - we were planning for a no-kidding mission. (There was another rehearsal that, if it had gone, we probably wouldn't be in some of the garden spots we're in now, but that got CNX at the last minute.)

Now that it's all my peers who are SQ/CCs, I ask the few that were on that mission if they think they could get away with that today - the answer is a resounding 'no'.

The good ole days. I remember them fondly.

I'm going to put that book on my list (I've got a long enough list now!), but I'm very interested in reading it.

I, too, latched onto another opportunity to rant against the machine...

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Daddy always said, "If yer gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough" and I'm one tough sonofagun!