Half a billion dollars in waste. U.S. Government scraps fleet of aircraft. War is Boring

One of the scrapped G-222's. War is Boring

The United States is scrapping a fleet of 20 G-222 transport planes, worth almost $500 million, for a measly $32,000. -War is Boring. The fleet of transports was a gift to Afghanistan's Air Force, who prove incapable of operating the planes. Watchdog groups and internal investigators had watched the planes for years hoping that some good use would be made of them. Unfortunately, they only flew 234 hours over 4 years, much less then the projected 4500. The program was expensive as well, costing $200 million in maintenance per year. The planes had sat idle for years and it is unclear if they were even flight worthy before they were scrapped.   

My Comment:

It's things like this that make our defense budget balloon out of control. We gave a fleet of planes that the Afghans couldn't use, couldn't maintain and couldn't afford and when they sat for years we just scrapped them. They should have never been given to Afghanistan in the first place. Why would they need a fleet of heavy airlift craft? They barely have an air force! 

And the worst part is that they scrapped the planes for hardly any money. $32,000 is a rounding error for the U.S. government. Surely we could have used these planes for something? If not, could we have sold them to another government? Put them in the boneyard for spare parts? Even using them as targeting drones would have been more efficient. As it stands now that is $500 million dollars worth of tax payer money flushed down the toilet. I don't mind paying for the military to buy planes, but only if they actually use them!

Part of me thinks that there is more to this story then we are being told. If the government paid $500 million for these planes, then some plane manufacture was laughing all the way to the bank. I'd be willing to bet that this has way more to do with government corruption and the utter sleaze that is the defense procurement industry then any government incompetence. Still, the difference between incompetence and corruption doesn't matter when the outcome is the same.