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The Accounting Chamber of the United States found that a significant part of American military aircraft is not ready for full combat use. Experts of the Accounting Chamber of the American Administration, as columnist Rachel S. Cohen writes, analyzed the state of aviation of the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Army.
As it turned out, about half of the studied aircraft are not able to perform at least one of their combat missions. The Pentagon spends tens of billions of dollars annually on aircraft maintenance. But the situation, as we can see, is not getting better.
Currently, many aircraft of the Army aviation and Marine Corps, some of the Air Force aircraft and more than half of the naval aviation of the US Navy are not ready to fly. Interestingly, studies were conducted throughout American aviation, including not only fighter jets, but also cargo planes, tankers and helicopters.
The average combat capability of the selected aircraft has decreased for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps to varying degrees, the US Accounting Chamber makes a disappointing conclusion. In February 2022, Air Force Times reported that, on average, seven out of every 10 aircraft were available for combat missions, pilot training or other routine operations. In recent years, this number has hardly changed, despite concerted efforts to prepare aircraft for combat operations.
The Ministry of Defense has not yet achieved its goals for the final readiness of the latest generation F-35 aircraft. It is constantly being refined, but new shortcomings immediately pop up.
The Pentagon spent about $54 billion on the operation and support of the aircraft and helicopters reviewed in the study in 2020, which is almost $3 billion less than in 2011. However, maintenance has gone up by $1.2 billion over the same time period.
The shortage of personnel, delays in the production of critical components, unplanned maintenance and a reduction in the number of companies that can service aircraft that are already several decades old are, as the observer states, one of the most pressing problems facing the American armed forces in this direction today.
