USAF Will Send Last F-117s Into Retirement
Newsbot @ Wed Mar 12, 2008 8:04 pm
<strong>Title: </strong> <a href="/link.php?id=31218" target="_blank">USAF Will Send Last F-117s Into Retirement</a> (click to view)
<strong>Category:</strong> <a href="/news/topic/13-military" target="_blank">Military</a>
<strong>Posted By: </strong> <a href="/modules.php?name=Your_Account&op=userinfo&username=-Mario-" target="_blank">-Mario-</a>
<strong>Date: </strong> 2008-03-13 03:23:39
philowl @ Wed Mar 12, 2008 8:04 pm
What a waste! The Pentagon is the largest consumer of resources and the earth's biggest polluter. Watching a helicopter fly over rows of planes in the Mohave Desert, then fly over rows of ships mothballed at San Diego, one can only gasp at the waste. It's like taking all those reources, building them into a huge firecracker, then blowing it up. That quaifies as one definition of insanity.
xerxes @ Thu Mar 13, 2008 5:41 pm
I'm surprised they're already retiring it. It's still a solid aircraft, though it does have some glaring limitations.
sasquatch2 @ Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:55 pm
Moth-balling ship is just good practice....a policy which has served well in the past.
As far as retiring a 27 year-old technology---remember the speed new aircraft arrived and disappeared in the late 40-early 50's. The Douglas Skyray had a service life of less than 2 years for an example.
Loader @ Thu Mar 13, 2008 7:05 pm
I think that having a even more capable successor like the Raptor made the retirement decision a little easier, even at 300 plus million a copy.
sasquatch2 @ Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:23 am
Loader
$1:
I think that having a even more capable successor like the Raptor made the retirement decision a little easier, even at 300 plus million a copy.
Indeed, although it enjoyed a longer service life than the classics---Spitfire, Bf 109, A6M, F86 sabre, F6F Bearcat.
Even the SR71 had a long life by comparison...
Isn't it great how time flies.