The USAF is one of the key components of the military. It has the most technologically advanced air force led by F-35 fighter jets. Furthermore, in the USAF we can find proven F-22 fighters, which are not for sale, and even Israel, America’s biggest ally in the Middle East, does not lack F-16, F-15 and many other platforms, including bombers, reconnaissance or training machines.
Low combat readiness of American aircraft
However, the USAF is plagued by objective problems that are chronic in nature. One of them is the long-term low readiness of aircraft for combat. At a time when the war in Ukraine is still going on and the situation in the Middle East is intensifying, and we can even see foci of other conflicts over the South China Sea area, this is a serious problem that calls for a solution as soon as possible. However, it will definitely not be that easy.
Disturbing news from the agency
The government agency GAO (Government Accountability Office), which did not particularly please USAF officials with its report from the end of 2022, has drawn attention to the long-standing problem with the combat readiness of American aircraft several times. She must have even disturbed some of them considerably.
The GAO wrote that only 2 types of American military aircraft out of a total of 49 assessed met the criteria for the ability to fulfill their combat tasks in 2021. Even another statistic of the top representative of the USAF certainly cannot please.
The GAO further stated in the report that 30 of the 49 platforms it examined in detail are more than 10% in a state where they are unable to perform their combat tasks or missions. Their combat readiness is therefore low, and if the machines were to take off immediately for combat, there would be a rather major problem for the USAF. However, let’s add to this the difficulties related to the American “showcase”, i.e. F-35 fighters, which the Czech Republic also buys.
As of March 2023, the aforementioned GAO identified only 55% of all F-35 fighters as capable of performing combat missions. The above-mentioned difficulties are also connected with the lower availability of aircraft of this type. This applies to the F-35A and F-35B variants. The availability of the conventional variant (F-35A) dropped from 65% to 54%, for the F-35B from 61% to 54%. The F-35C was the only one to see an increase from 53% to 58%.
A possible threat to the Czech Republic as well
So we have to take into account the fact that deliveries of F-35 aircraft are delayed and also have technical problems, especially with engine units, which the manufacturer of the aircraft, Lockheed Martin, is trying to solve in the long term.
The low availability of aircraft is also discussed in connection with the supply of machines to the Czech Republic. Our air force is acquiring a total of 24 F-35 fighters worth 150 billion, for which we must add the costs of the modification of the air base in Čáslav, respectively the modification of the landing strip, other funds for maintenance and, of course, the costs of individual flight hours. The first aircraft should arrive in the Czech Republic in 2031, but it is possible that due to the aforementioned difficulties, they will not be available until later, in the middle of the third decade.
The USAF has a lot of work to do
Earlier, USAF Commander Charles Q. Brown pledged to increase the Air Force’s combat readiness percentages and that this serious deficiency will be gradually eliminated, or reduced to an acceptable limit. However, he has a lot of hard work ahead of him, because correcting the current situation will require long-term political, technical and financial cooperation. But it won’t work any other way if the USAF wants to continue to be a model for other air forces. However, it is difficult to make reliable predictions on the other hand, because it is a chronic problem.
Source: author’s article
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Tags: American planes sufficiently prepared combat threat Czech Republic
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