>Out of 276 F/A-18 Hornet strike fighters in the Marine Corps inventory, only about 30% are ready to fly, according to statistics provided by the Corps. Similarly, only 42 of 147 heavy-lift CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters are airworthy.
>To get one Hornet flying again, Marines at Beaufort stripped a landing gear door off a mothballed museum jet. The door, found on the flight deck of the World War II-era USS Yorktown, was last manufactured over a decade ago.
>The aircraft shortage means pilots spend less time in the air. "This last 30 days our average flight time per pilot was just over 4 hours," said Thomas. Ten years ago, Marine Corps pilots averaged between 25 and 30 hours in the air each month, according to one pilot. “This is the worst I’ve seen it,” he added. Another pilot who asked to remain nameless told Fox News that Chinese and Russian pilots fly more hours each month than Marine Corps pilots.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/04/17/budget-cuts-leaving-marine-corps-aircraft-grounded.html
Are the muhreens most worthless branch in the military?
>marine aviation
These two words shouldn't be together
>>30018027
>M-murheens stong!
>>30018027
>good friend from high school is senior in college and in Marine ROTC
>I haven't seen in 3 years, but he's in town to visit family
>take him out for beer and wings
>start discussing what he wants to do in the Marines
>"well we are sort of limited on options due to budgets and stuff but I always dreamed of being a Marine officer"
Fuck, I was under the impression first world countries had militaries that let volunteers have at least a bit of say so in what they do, how could our military be "under funded" when we still spend 600 billion dollars in our defense budget?
>>30018027
>Kristen F. Starkus
Nom nom nom
>>30018027
>Less than 30%
better than most if not all of Eurokuckia
>Marines
You mean idiots designed to storm beaches under heavy fire? They don't need equipment for that.
>>30018027
Jesus what the fuck happened
It wasn't much of a surprise for a country like Germany but for the USA to be so operationally ineffective?
>>30018144
Because the USA has such a large rotation of recruits as opposed to other nations where they have longer careers, lots more is being spent on people outside of the military, and it's an increasing drain.
1.7 trillion in fact.
>>30018223
Why spend lots of money on aircraft you are replacing soon?
>>30018191
Americuck pls
>The aircraft shortage means pilots spend less time in the air.
"This last 30 days our average flight time per pilot was just over 4 hours," said Thomas.
The Luftwaffe has at least 12 hours per month per pilot. You are below the poorest military in Europe.
>>30018027
This is what happens when you land a jet on a carrier for 20 years and 10,000 flight hours and then wonder why it won't fly anymore.
>>30018144
>how could our military be "under funded" when we still spend 600 billion dollars in our defense budget?
Because of what the military is being asked to do.
>>30018245
oh jew
>>30018245
The German airforce also has half the aircraft with a smaller percent flyable.
>>30018244
Because you don't let the fleet fall to shit under any circumstances.
>>30018270
The Luftwaffe is literally the worst standard to compare to.
>>30018245
yeah but that is your airforce
this is the marines
Airforce averages 120 hours flight time per pilot a year, but some pilots fly 180 hours a year
Then we also have the Navy who has more combat role fighters than the airforce. I don't know how much they fly.
>>30018144
Because mil standard ballpoint pens cost $10k a pop
>>30018280
Isn't the USAF at 250? Apparently the French and the British are at around 200 as well
Dad was an eagle keeper during the cold war, says thats pretty typical.
"Ready to fly" means all the bullshit paperwork and bueracrasy-isms are checked out, saying a plane cant fly doesnt mean its physically incapable of a mission.
Example:
Plane is fully fixed up, but they do a hydraulic line test.
Before the plane can be "ready to fly" they have to drain all of the still good hydraulic fluid from it and replace it with new never before used fluid just cuz the book says so. Then get it signed off by a dozen people.
So until that fluid and all those signatures are signed the plane is "unfit to fly."
In reality, it could take off and fight if need be, but since its not a wartime scenario the paper-fucking declares it unfit to fight.
My dad talked about the crazy shit they could do to get a plane airborne in an emergency.
He got into "Y-zone" missions in which they could take such an "unfit" aircraft, get it airborne in 30 minutes, redline the engines so hard that they only survive for 30 to 45 minutes at mach 3, intercept a fleet of russian bombers over the north pole with a nuclear air to air missile, and the pilot "lands" by gliding his now flamed out and useless fighter as close to the US border as possible and ejecting.
Point is, "not flight worthy" is a fluid definition dependant upon the scenario at hand.
Peace time? Plane is going to more tidy and well fit than a surgical suite.
Emergency/wartime?
The bird can be shot to hell, so long as it takes off and can fire missiles. Especially if its a scenario where getting it back intact isnt a priority.
>>30018191
nah m8 that's like malian air force tier
>>30018245
With as much as the Navy flies that is completely false
The USMC has been tricked to death.
Cucked hard
>>30018027
They'll be replaced by F-35, why didn't they scrapped them yet?
>>30018144
Military-Industrial complex.
M1 Abrams went through 4 separate programmes meant to develop long-range fire and forget "guided" AT round and it didn't result in anything, and it's not like the tank had a problem with being out ranged by any possible opponent so... what was the point?
The Marines are probably the worst at it, it's a hive of cronyism.
>>30018027
You think that's bad?
ZERO of the German army's helicopters work right now because our minister of defense is a woman who likes to waste money on making the army more "family friendly" instead of keeping it operational.
I wish I was joking. Our army is a fucking mess.
>>30018663
thats not "military industrial complex" thats the military-political complex being incompetent and shit
>>30018722
Military-political complex and military-industrial complex go hand-to-hand. Somebody pays for campaigns. The guys who got their campaigns paid for pressure their military friends to start looking for "X" and pay for R&D of useless shit. Tax-paying goyim pays for all of this. Perfect vicious circle.
>>30018027
> blaming a military branch for the government's iinability to properly fund it.
You guys are pretty retarded.
>>30018757
When that military branch does things like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81NFmOob2mA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGGg9njci0M
on regular basis blaming them makes lots of sense.
>>30018244
Because it's replacement still isn't on operational status, and 2,000 of them still need to be built.
It isn't much different in USAF either. They're cannibalizing boneyards and museums for parts to keep B-1s flying and half of F-16s squadrons are not combat operational.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/05/14/wiped-out-air-force-losing-pilots-and-planes-to-cuts-scrounging-for-spare-parts.html
But then again, they might as well just be getting desperate at begging for funds
>>30018779
>growler debacle
What will the news demagogue next?
Instant close, did not even hit play.
>>30018144
> how is our military underfunded
Think of all the nations without a sizable military that our military protects out of treaty/ally obligations.
