$500M worth of US-bought planes destroyed by Afghans, sold as scrap

[Robby999 1,024]

Sixteen military transport planes bought by the United States government for the Afghan Air Force (AAF) at a cost of nearly $500 million were recently destroyed by the Afghan military and sold for scrap parts at around six cents per pound, prompting a government inquiry to determine why millions of taxpayer dollars were wasted on the ill-fated program.

The Department of Defense purchased for the AAF a total of 20 Italian-made G222 military transport planes at a cost of $486 million. However, the fleet was grounded in March 2013 “after sustained, serious performance, maintenance, and spare parts problems” were discovered, according to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).

After sitting unused for some time on the tarmac at Kabul International Airport, the Afghan military decided to destroy 16 of the planes and sell the scrap metal for roughly 6 cents per pound, according to SIGAR, which has launched an investigation to determine how such a large amount of taxpayer dollars were wasted on the fleet.

SIGAR had intended to inspect the aircraft as part of its investigation and appears to have been caught off guard by the fleet’s destruction.

“It has come to my attention that the sixteen G222s at Kabul were recently towed to the far side of the airport and scrapped by the Defense Logistics Agency,” SIGAR head John Sopko wrote in a letter to the U.S. Air Force that was released on Thursday.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/10/10/500m-worth-us-bought-planes-destroyed-by-afghans-sold-as-scrap-for-6-cents/

What's the problem? This is a " Cash for Clunkers" program, just like the program "0" implemented! Just out of curiosity though, what make and model of airplanes will our tax dollars purchase to replace the scraped planes?

[rlogan 2,036]

How about the $26 billion we spent equipping and training the Iraqi army and police forces? An unmitigated disaster:

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/09/iraq-army-security-force-billions

So now, we're supposed to equip and train people to fight ISIS, which is going to prove no better. This country (USA) has the collective IQ of a worm. It isn't like this is some kind of reasonable difference of opinion people can have - this is beyond incredible for how stupid it is.

[Robby999 1,024]

I have seen street gangs in Macon Georgia that could stage a better offensive strike than the Iraqi army!

[Pooky 3,343]

Things have improved since the elections in Iraq. But that has gone unnoticed, as all the fuss is currently focused on the situation in Syria.

[Sousuke 1,214]

It sounds like the US should have bought a few less planes and more spare parts....

[GandD 5,966]

We actually build brand new planes and ship them directly to a boneyard to sit because the people that order them and the people that are supposed to receive them are at odds on the issue. Worthless.