Posted on 09/15/2014 9:49:54 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
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, an independent think tank 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 Corp. was building the mine-clearing helicopters for the U.S. Navy in the 1980s. Unlike the United States, Japan decided to retire and replace its fleet last decade as the aircraft approached the end of their 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 in the upkeep of its oldest and most maintenance-intensive helicopters as they near their fourth decade in service.
The Navy's desire for discarded aircraft from Japan is likely, at least in part, a reflection of national priorities, Harrison said.
(Excerpt) Read more at hamptonroads.com ...
Millions of EBT cards have to be filled up every month, doesn’t leave a lot of jingwa for defense.
A most excellent aircraft, but it eats parts like there's no tomorrow.
If it stops leaking hydraulic fluid - land quickly, it means it's empty....
I’ll bet they are in pristine condition and flawlessly maintained. When the South Koreans purchased used Patriot gear from the Luftwaffe it was in better-than-new condition.
I spent a good number of years working on the CH-53A, D,and other general purpose models and I agree with your assessment. Sikorsky builds some EXCELLENT aircraft, which last a LONG time!!! I got to my first Marine helo squadron in November of ‘67, and we were still flying the UH-34D, a KOREAN WAR-ere aircraft. I loved ‘em. Old and slow, but they’d get off the ground with whatever you could cram into them.
My first experience with the 53 was at Phu Bai, RVN, in ‘69. They were great then, as the “A” model, they STAYED great. But, as you note, they drink a lot of hydraulic fluid. Almost like red paint, it got so all over the interior of the birds.
Hey, thanks for sharing that - been working with the company for 16 years - was a Chinook guy before that....
The Marines did the same thing with their Harriers, bought just about the whole fleet of RAF\RN Harrier GR.9s, moved them to Davis Monthan for parting out as spares.
The Marines actually talked about returning some to service, they were in that good condition. The Brits flipped, embarassed at having it pointed out that they’d retired perfectly good birds with a lot of years of life left on them.
And IIRC the USN bought up a bunch of Swiss F-5s to fly as adversaries. Still do, planes were in great condition too.
The MH-53s are scheduled to be replaced by the CH-53K family, which is under development. So this really is just a stopgap.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.