Posted on 04/01/2013 7:59:25 PM PDT by haffast
A major operation to airlift thousands of tonnes of military equipment from Afghanistan has begun as troops prepare to leave the country.
In what could be seen as the biggest spring clean in the world, the redeployment effort will see everything from nuts and bolts to helicopters and armoured vehicles returned to the UK.
The British presence will be almost halved by the end of this year to 5,200 and all combat operations in the country should be over by the end of 2014, leaving Afghan forces in control.
The plan is to leave as little as possible behind.
At Camp Bastion, the main operating base in Helmand which has grown to the size of a town, there are now expanses of dust where canvas villages once stood as empty tents are removed.
From the heavily-armoured trucks to far smaller trailers and buggies, battlefield vehicles sit parked up in a 700-capacity compound.
Used and out-of-date ammunition is collected, ready to be sold for scrap.
Since January some £70m worth of British equipment has left Afghanistan and this is expected to increase rapidly as the withdrawal gathers pace.
snip
(Excerpt) Read more at uk.news.yahoo.com ...
We've got about 48 billion dollars of equipment there to move ourselves:
Moving Its War Machine Out of Afghanistan Will Cost U.S. $6 Billion, Even as Troops Remain
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
http://www.allgov.com/news/top-stories/moving-its-war-machine-out-of-afghanistan-will-cost-us-6-billion-dollars-even-as-troops-remain-130327?news=849560
last stand of the 44th Foot?
I believe the US has at least 6,000 to 8,000 of each type of run-of-the-mill MRAPs, not the souped up ones for engineers but the “common” ones. No telling how much other stuff there is.
It comes in country at a trickle but has to go out in a massive mess. Of course we have to clean all of it meticulously before shipping it.
Wonder how much we’ll leave behind that will become like all the other junk left in Afghanistan?
last stand of the 44th Foot?
I’d just be interested in them sending back any un-fired 9mm or 5.56mm to sell as surplus... ;-)
Operation “Been there, done that”.
Now that all that stuff has depreciated, you can pickup an APC up for a song.
You lose a cool 50 Grand when you drive a new one of the Lot.
Operation Been there, done that.
Now that all that stuff has depreciated, you can pickup an APC for a song.
You lose a cool 50 Grand when you drive a new one of the Lot.
I’d love to get my hands on an Oshkosh L-ATV version of the JLTV. They wouldn’t even need to worry about cleaning it or sending it back to the US, since I’m only a couple of borders east of them.
Last stand of the 44th at Gandamak
How vast is my ignorance!! Thanks for the history lesson.
Mine is just as vast - I could never have posted the pic!
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