Posted on 06/08/2015 11:29:41 AM PDT by US Navy Vet
The extent of corrosion damage on the U.S. military’s F/A-18 Hornet fleet is requiring more maintenance than expected, an admiral said.
The Navy and Marine Corps are flying the legacy fighter jets longer than planned — 10,000 flight hours, up from 6,000 flight hours — because of delays in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, according to Rear Adm. Michael Manazir, the service’s director of air warfare. As a result, the 1980s-era, twin-engine aircraft is experiencing a high degree of wear and tear, including corrosion.
“The corrosion impacts, I would say, caught us by surprise,” he said this week during a Navy and Marine Corps aviation conference on Capitol Hill. “When we opened them up and realized the extent of the corrosion damage, we realized we couldn’t just replace the parts we were going to replace. We had to put those airplanes aside.”
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Suddenly there were EPA requirements in our military contracts. We couldn’t use chromium or cadmium, which are used to plate parts and render them immune to corrosion. I suspect this might be part of the problem. Incidentally, I read the EPA’s report and essentially these parts could be in a landfill forever and they would never leech in the water supply. Never.
Likely not, but I've been in or around Naval Aviation for 28 years, so I'll give it a shot anyway. Additionally, I speak with someone actually doing this depot level work on a near daily basis. I got the low down from him on this particular issue last week.
There are and have always been different levels of maintenance for corrosion control. There are areas that squadron level maintenance never gets to. They simply cannot be accessed without putting the aircraft out of commission for weeks. Even at the depot level, there are a few areas that are not normally accessed. The issue is in one of those areas.
I presume that the engineers decided that within the projected 6000 hr lifespan of the aircraft, this area would not become a problem. They were in fact correct.
This regime has totally failed at keeping the citizens of the US safe. This is just a tip of the iceberg.
FREEPERS are aware of all the stories about special tools for nukes that are not being replaced and the acceleration of the natural deterioration of our offensive and defensive capabilities caused by the Jarrett administration.
The question is, why is no one reporting this and how do we get the info out there?
EPA cost us at least One Space Shuttle
Sounds like BOHICA.
oh what a bunch of bs..
these planes went into production in the early ‘80’s..
that is over 35 years for those who cannot count...
metal rots... period...
f-18’s, a-10’s, f-15’s.. and so on and so on..
HAVE ROTTED METAL ON THE AIRFRAMES.....
they should have been replaced 15 to 20 years ago..
is there a metalurgist on this site to confirm this???
to post a reply to my own post...
the time frame falls squarely under gwb’s watch..
why were our fleets not upgraded then??
because he had to pay for the largest welfare increase in the history of this country before fubo ( that includes johnson)...
when are you all going to open your eyes???
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