nhboy
Ubi bene ibi patria
Source.
"NORFOLK, Va. — It’s unusual for the United States — by far the biggest defense spender in the world — to seek scrapped military equipment from other nations. Typically those roles are reversed.
But for the past several years, according to internal emails obtained by The Virginian-Pilot, the U.S. Navy has been negotiating to acquire Japan’s retired fleet of MH-53E Sea Dragons. The Navy wants to harvest the old helicopters for parts to help keep its own Sea Dragons flying until 2025.
“It’s telling when we are put in a position where we need to buy scrapped aircraft to keep ours going,” said Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington. “For the most part, we’re buying the most recent generation of equipment and discarding the last generation. And many of our global partners and allies are still using them, so they’ll gladly take them off our hands.”
Japan is the only other country that bought Sea Dragons back when Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation was building the mine-clearing helicopters for the U.S. Navy in the 1980s. But unlike the United States, Japan decided to retire and replace its fleet last decade as the aircraft approached the end of the planned service life.
Navy and Japanese military officials have declined to discuss the potential exchange. The arrangement, however, highlights the difficulty the Navy has faced maintaining its oldest and most maintenance-intensive helicopter as it nears its fourth decade in service."
"NORFOLK, Va. — It’s unusual for the United States — by far the biggest defense spender in the world — to seek scrapped military equipment from other nations. Typically those roles are reversed.
But for the past several years, according to internal emails obtained by The Virginian-Pilot, the U.S. Navy has been negotiating to acquire Japan’s retired fleet of MH-53E Sea Dragons. The Navy wants to harvest the old helicopters for parts to help keep its own Sea Dragons flying until 2025.
“It’s telling when we are put in a position where we need to buy scrapped aircraft to keep ours going,” said Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington. “For the most part, we’re buying the most recent generation of equipment and discarding the last generation. And many of our global partners and allies are still using them, so they’ll gladly take them off our hands.”
Japan is the only other country that bought Sea Dragons back when Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation was building the mine-clearing helicopters for the U.S. Navy in the 1980s. But unlike the United States, Japan decided to retire and replace its fleet last decade as the aircraft approached the end of the planned service life.
Navy and Japanese military officials have declined to discuss the potential exchange. The arrangement, however, highlights the difficulty the Navy has faced maintaining its oldest and most maintenance-intensive helicopter as it nears its fourth decade in service."
