The Wall Street Journal
By Nathan Hodge
Oct. 9, 2014 9:05 a.m. ET
KABUL—The U.S. military is disposing of an embarrassing eyesore—a fleet of cargo planes that were sitting idle at Kabul International Airport—as American troops withdraw from Afghanistan.
In December 2012, the U.S. Air Force scrapped plans to buy a fleet of 20 transport planes for the Afghan military after acknowledging that the 16 refurbished planes delivered to the Afghan military weren’t in flying condition. The issue was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
According the Pentagon’s Afghan watchdog, those 16 planes are now being cut up for scrap.
The planes, which originally cost $486 million, were now being sold to a recycler for six cents a pound, or $32,000, said Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John Sopko in letters to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Air Force Secretary Deborah James dated Oct. 3.
“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 [U.S.] Defense Logistics Agency,” Mr. Sopko wrote the Air Force secretary. “I was also informed that an Afghan construction company paid approximately 6 cents a pound for the scrapped planes, which came to a total of $32,000.”
Mr. Sopko added: “I am concerned that the officials responsible for planning and executing the scrapping of the planes may not have considered other possible alternatives in order to salvage taxpayer dollars.”
At issue is a fleet of Italian-built C-27A cargo planes that were procured for the Afghan Air Force, which has a shortage of air-lifters to haul troops and equipment. The Afghans began receiving the twin-engine aircraft, also known as the G222, in 2009, but the planes were grounded for several months in 2012 because of a lack of adequate maintenance and spare parts.
The U.S. Air Force said it had spent a total of $596 million on the G222 program, including the cost of maintaining them in Afghanistan. Since the cancellation of the program, the 16 planes delivered to the Afghans had been parked on a tarmac near the main terminal at the country’s primary international airport, a visible reminder of a botched procurement.
“The G222 fleet was unable to fulfill mission needs, a decision was made to discontinue the program in December 2012, and the contract was allowed to expire in March 2013,” said Marine Corps Maj. Brad Avots, a Defense Department spokesman. “The Department of Defense recently completed disposal of aircraft located in Kabul, Afghanistan to minimize impact on drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.”
The U.S. and its allies are withdrawing combat troops by the end of this year, although the Obama administration plans to keep a residual force of just under 10,000 American troops to conduct training and counterterrorism missions. One of the primary training missions for the U.S. and its allies after 2014 will be building up the Afghan Air Force.
Left uncertain is what the U.S. military plans to do with the remaining C-27A airframes. Maj. Avots said the Pentagon was considering ways to dispose of the other four aircraft, including looking for other outside customers.
“Working in a wartime environment such as Afghanistan brings with it many challenges, and we continually seek to improve our processes,” he said. “We also are focused on building the capability and capacity of our Afghan partners to improve accountability and help instill sound financial management practices in daily operations while reducing the risk of fraud, waste and abuse.”
- Source: http://online.wsj.com
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