gkainz
Final Approach
"Five years of combat have taken an awful toll on the equipment of U.S. naval forces. Marine Corps vehicles and battle tanks are being ground to dust, new types of weapons and small craft are needed, and equipment for the Navy Seabees must be replaced quickly.
The cost of re-equipping, or “resetting,” the Marine Corps is about $12 billion, some of which is being provided in the annual supplemental appropriations for the war in Iraq.
The Navy will require at least $7 billion.
But that is only part of the story. Looming behind the immediate needs of the naval forces is a coming crisis in aircraft procurement. The average age of the 3,880 planes in the Navy and Marine aircraft inventory is about 18 years, making it the oldest aircraft fleet in the history of the naval services.
Symptoms of this crisis already abound:
* Navy electronic attack pilots have been told not to maneuver their planes aggressively;
* The Marine Corps for months had weight restrictions on its 40-year-old CH-46 helicopters;
* Fatigue cracks and other deficiencies probably will shorten the service lives of Navy P-3C Orion patrol planes; "
Read the whole story here: http://www.military.com/forums/0,15240,120378,00.html?ESRC=navy.nl
The cost of re-equipping, or “resetting,” the Marine Corps is about $12 billion, some of which is being provided in the annual supplemental appropriations for the war in Iraq.
The Navy will require at least $7 billion.
But that is only part of the story. Looming behind the immediate needs of the naval forces is a coming crisis in aircraft procurement. The average age of the 3,880 planes in the Navy and Marine aircraft inventory is about 18 years, making it the oldest aircraft fleet in the history of the naval services.
Symptoms of this crisis already abound:
* Navy electronic attack pilots have been told not to maneuver their planes aggressively;
* The Marine Corps for months had weight restrictions on its 40-year-old CH-46 helicopters;
* Fatigue cracks and other deficiencies probably will shorten the service lives of Navy P-3C Orion patrol planes; "
Read the whole story here: http://www.military.com/forums/0,15240,120378,00.html?ESRC=navy.nl