Grounded: Nearly two-thirds of US Navy’s strike fighters can’t fly (DefenseNews)

[Grey Havoc]

http://www.defensenews.com/articles/grounded-nearly-two-thirds-of-us-navys-strike-fighters-cant-fly

 

[FighterJock]

That is bad news, I take it that it is only early model FA-18s that are involved, and not the newer E/F Super Hornets?

 

[Dragon029]

According to the article, 53% of all USN aircraft (from Super Hornets to helicopters) can't fly, while "Sixty-two percent of F/A-18s are out of service; 27 percent in major depot work; and 35 percent simply awaiting maintenance or parts, the Navy said." That doesn't specify if they're talking Hornets or Super Hornets, but I get the impression that they're talking about both; naturally that figure would be more disposed towards legacy Hornets, although there are slightly more Super Hornets than Hornets (or about a 60/40 ratio if you include Growlers as well).

 

[FighterJock]

According to the article, 53% of all USN aircraft (from Super Hornets to helicopters) can't fly, while "Sixty-two percent of F/A-18s are out of service; 27 percent in major depot work; and 35 percent simply awaiting maintenance or parts, the Navy said." That doesn't specify if they're talking Hornets or Super Hornets, but I get the impression that they're talking about both; naturally that figure would be more disposed towards legacy Hornets, although there are slightly more Super Hornets than Hornets (or about a 60/40 ratio if you include Growlers as well).

Thanks for the extra info regarding the Hornets Dragon029.

 

[yasotay]

USAF has engines falling off the aircraft and the Army just does not report that sort of thing. I think the news is really a lot worse than the Navy's bad news.

 

[kcran567]

I wonder how this compares to china, Russia, and others. Is this common due to simple maintenence requirements and lack of parts, or are very expensive systems full of problems due to their complexity. Sort of like a high end luxury car vs a basic economy car. Isn't reliability, simplicity, and ease of maintenence just as critical as something like stealth?

 

[Archibald]

Both Russia and China have serious issues maintaining decent flight rates of their extensive Su-27 / Su-35 fleets.

 

[FighterJock]

Both Russia and China have serious issues maintaining decent flight rates of their extensive Su-27 / Su-35 fleets.

Surprised at Russia/China having problems with their Su-35 fleets already regarding maintenance issues, after all they are supposed to be new? :-\

 

[NeilChapman]

Posted the links to the hearings where these readiness numbers were discussed here.

http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,27146.msg299783.html#msg299783

 

[r16]

just the place for the pointless rant that there's nothing new since 1996 . The golden calf has been in place , just about to fly combat if pushed that hard . What's the thing against releasing maintenance money , or is it that they just can't find money out of a half a trillion dollars worth of a budget ?