First, an army without bullets. Now, per the National Interest, an air force without planes:
One-third of Britain’s military aircraft isn’t available to fly, according to British media.
“Figures unearthed by freedom of information campaigners show 142 of 434 of the air force’s planes have been sidelined,†said the British tabloid Daily Mirror.
Some planes and helicopters have been mothballed, while others are down for major maintenance. The problem spans numerous models, including the Royal Air Force’s flagship fighter, the Eurofighter Typhoon.
“Military top brass revealed 55 of the 156 Typhoon jets are in the RAF’s ‘sustainment fleet’ – and not in its ‘forward fleet’ ready to be deployed on operations,†the Mirror said. Even aircraft in the forward fleet, which should be available for operations, are down as “short-term unserviceable aircraft.â€
In addition to the Typhoons, “five out of 20 Atlas A400M transport planes are in the sustainment fleet – despite the first of its type only being delivered in 2014,†said the Mirror.
We’re getting our wish. When you infantilize your allies, you shouldn’t be surprised when they behave like infants.
In his negotiations with Erdogan over the fate of Kurdish allies, Trump told him that if he attacked Kurds in Syria after our withdrawal, he, (Trump), would take action to devastate their, (Turkey’s) economy.
CNN ran with this headline:
TRUMP THREATENS TO DEVASTATE ECONOMY OF U.S. ALLY!
Where do I file my complaint?
The sounds like the Russian Navy. Infantilizing or just unwilling to spend on defense?
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/the-russian-navy-powerful-suffers-2-big-fatal-flaws-19657
Steve
You lay the wood with “infantilize your allies” but don’t really explain what you mean, or when this occurred.
The US military, and US military-industrial complex have enjoyed this situation for decades, for obvious reasons. The NATO allies have enjoyed it because they could do their social spending and we would save their ass in a pinch.
We now are gravitating towards a posture that recognizes we have demographically driven social spending problem, so the rest of the world must pull their weight on defense. Let them solve their issues. I fail to see the problem.
Modern military aircraft are like race-cars, they require lots of maintenance for every hour of flight time. It’s expensive and highly technical and expensive work.
This kind of problem could have several causes:
– Not enough trained maintainers
– Not enough spare parts
– Insufficient depot-level maintenance
– Poor maintenance practices
– Insufficient supply-chain
– Too high an OPTEMPO.
We have the same problem and to the same extent with our own air craft. We also have severe readiness problems across our whole military. The recent report on the collision of the USS Fitzgerald (?) and a freighter near Japan reveals widespread incompetence, unfilled positions, disregard for standard procedures, insubordination petty squabbles… (See summary at CDR Salamander.) A few years ago the now quiet blog “In From The Cold” documented similar problems in our strategic bomber and missile forces.
One hopes the Russians and Chinese have similar problems. But Pace Andy, I doubt it.