The command of the US Navy was unpleasantly surprised by the size of the losses from corrosion of the F/A-18 Super Hornet deck fighters, which form the basis of the aircraft carrier wing.
In fiscal years 2017-2020 (in the USA they differ from calendar years), the costs of fighting the rotting of fighters amounted to more than two billion dollars, or 29.4 percent of the total maintenance costs of this type of aircraft.
- Corrosion can lead to the fact that aircraft will not be able to fly, - Navy Times quotes from the report of the Inspector General of the US Department of Defense. In 2020, 151 aircraft did not pass mandatory combat readiness checks, which should be carried out every 84 days, the document says. The inspectors found no records of the inspections, nor of any valid reasons that prevented their completion. The F/A-18 Super Hornet fleet did not meet combat readiness indicators from 2011 to 2019 due to a shortage of qualified personnel, spare parts, problems in warehouses and outdated parts.
Anton Valagin
