In the report of the Inspector General of the US Department of Defense, losses from corrosion of F/A-18 deck aircraft were disclosed. In the period from fiscal year 2017 to 2020, the US Navy spent more than $ 2 billion on corrosion control. This is reported by the Navy Times.
The inspectors found that parts of the aircraft selected for inspection in the 2020 fiscal year did not carry out mandatory anti-corrosion work. The authors note that specialists of the US Navy and Marine Corps must inspect aircraft once every 84 days.
The report also indicates that officials called to monitor the performance of work did not always check the quality of aircraft inspection. This led to the fact that contractors received aircraft with traces of corrosion, which had to be identified by specialists of the US Navy.
The amount spent on corrosion control in the period from fiscal year 2017 to 2020 amounted to $2,086,796,553. These funds account for 29.4 percent of the total maintenance costs of F/A-18 aircraft.
The Inspector General stressed in the report that corrosion can reduce the level of combat readiness of aircraft. In his opinion, it is not yet known how much corrosion problems can affect the condition of the F/A-18 fleet.
Earlier, the authors of Military Watch suggested that the short range of F/A-18 aircraft makes American aircraft carriers vulnerable. Promising anti-ship complexes used by potential US adversaries pose a threat to ships.
Daniil Irinin
