James Lankford

[heironymouspasparagus]

Probably not a better place to put this - some of the descendants who are deployed in Iraq/Kuwait, etc are watching the sh$t show from their front row seats!

Memes are already propagating - as of this morning, the Taliban now has more Blackhawk helicopters than 175 other countries in the world!!  And drones!!   They have drones aplenty!

[Red Arrow]

Probably not a better place to put this - some of the descendants who are deployed in Iraq/Kuwait, etc are watching the sh$t show from their front row seats!
Memes are already propagating - as of this morning, the Taliban now has more Blackhawk helicopters than 175 other countries in the world!!  And drones!!   They have drones aplenty!

We should be able to destroy the equipment after our personnel are safe.

[heironymouspasparagus]

We should be able to destroy the equipment after our personnel are safe.

But we won't.   Haven't previously.

[Red Arrow]

But we won't.   Haven't previously.

I hope we at least remove any classified equipment.

[heironymouspasparagus]

I hope we at least remove any classified equipment.

They got our drones.   Two descendants have been under attack repeatedly this year in Iraq.  Now they have good chance of being attacked by their own tools!  (Probably not so much - they should have the means to override hostile takeover of a drone.  Blackhawks are another issue.)

[heironymouspasparagus]

..

This news is pretty hilarious, no matter who you are.  You know how Putin has been laughing his a$$ off at us since 2016...?   Well, I am laughing the same way at the Taliban right now!! 


https://forbesalert.com/news/usa/taliban-fighters-upset-feel-betrayed-that-us-military-left-non-working-helicopters-report/

[Red Arrow]

This news is pretty hilarious, no matter who you are.  You know how Putin has been laughing his a$$ off at us since 2016...?   Well, I am laughing the same way at the Taliban right now!! 
https://forbesalert.com/news/usa/taliban-fighters-upset-feel-betrayed-that-us-military-left-non-working-helicopters-report/

I kind of remember something similar with the F14s we left behind in Iran after their revolution.

[dbacksfan 2.0]

I kind of remember something similar with the F14s we left behind in Iran after their revolution.

That's why when the F14's were retired in 2007 AMARG at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson shredded all of them.

https://tucson.com/business/local/swift-deadly-f-14-tomcats-being-shredded-into-bits-at-d-m-boneyard/article_d35ff8bc-7642-51d0-8fe5-449da680a0a2.html

[tulsabug]

We destroyed or disabled to the point of never being usable again what equipment we had that was left (which was primarily just in Kabul). What the Taliban "captured" was Afghan Army stuff which, yes, is a lot of Humvees and some Blackhawks and so on. Good luck keeping any of that crap functioning in a desert environment with no parts for more than a few months (plus very  few techs to work on it). The lifespan of military equipment in a war zone is already pretty short - even more so in a desert. In the end the Taliban is going to have what they've always had - lots of Chinese-made Kalashnikovs and Toyotas - just like the Trump seditionists. 

[Red Arrow]

That's why when the F14's were retired in 2007 AMARG at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson shredded all of them.

https://tucson.com/business/local/swift-deadly-f-14-tomcats-being-shredded-into-bits-at-d-m-boneyard/article_d35ff8bc-7642-51d0-8fe5-449da680a0a2.html

I don't like having to destroy all that equipment but agree is was necessary.  F14s were brand new when I was in the Navy in the early to mid 70s.

[heironymouspasparagus]

I don't like having to destroy all that equipment but agree is was necessary.  F14s were brand new when I was in the Navy in the early to mid 70s.

Got job offers from Boeing and GD to work on avionics systems for B-52 and F-16.  Very tempting jobs but meant I would have to either go to KS or TX.  And as everyone knows, TX sucks and KS blows.  In the winter - summer, it reverses!

[Red Arrow]

Got job offers from Boeing and GD to work on avionics systems for B-52 and F-16.  Very tempting jobs but meant I would have to either go to KS or TX.  And as everyone knows, TX sucks and KS blows.  In the winter - summer, it reverses!

New equipment upgrades?

[dbacksfan 2.0]

Speaking of B-52's, here's a couple of articles about two B-52 H models that were brought out of the AMARG Bone Yard and had maintenance and upgrades at Tinker.

The only two B-52H "Stratofortress" bombers to be resurrected from the Arizona desert have been undergoing programmed depot maintenance at the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex.

Ghost Rider, the first of the bombers to be brought back to life, returned to service in 2015 after being mothballed for seven years at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group's National-Level Airpower Reservoir located at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. Wise Guy spent 10 years in the desert before being resurrected late last year.

Ghost Rider, tail number 61-007, is currently undergoing routine PDM. This is an intensive process where the team inspects, repairs, modifies and restores the aircraft to ensure serviceability and prolongs its service life. According to Dan Frey, 565th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron Production Flight chief, each B-52 in the fleet undergoes PDM every four years.

On Dec. 30, 2020, Wise Guy, tail number 60-034, finished the process of regeneration that formally began in 2018 with an in-depth structural analysis and logistics support review completed by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center's B-52 System Program Office to bring the aircraft back to active service. When Wise Guy rejoins the fleet, it will join Ghost Rider at the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot AFB, North Dakota, and will bring the number of B-52 bombers mandated by Congress to full strength at 76 aircraft.

https://www.businessinsider.com/only-two-b52-bombers-ever-pulled-from-air-force-boneyard-2021-1

https://www.tinker.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2463897/two-b-52h-bombers-regenerated-to-active-service-undergoing-simultaneous-mainten/fbclid/IwAR0lXdWadCrYg3uOD48EC8b28475SS1ycacGs4NFZZ_sMhG9xdzWiShPoyI/

[heironymouspasparagus]

New equipment upgrades?

Right.  But now those upgrades have been upgraded.  Probably several times.  That was a long time ago.

But I did get to crawl around the fuselage of the B-52 in Wichita!   That was the coolest airplane experience ever for me!   Not as big as one would think....

[dbacksfan 2.0]

Right.  But now those upgrades have been upgraded.  Probably several times.  That was a long time ago.

But I did get to crawl around the fuselage of the B-52 in Wichita!   That was the coolest airplane experience ever for me!   Not as big as one would think....

In 2013 I stopped at the entrance to Edwards AFB to see "Balls 8" registration #0008, the B-52 that carried a lot of the Xtype aircraft.

For scale, my Miata is about 30 feet from the B-52.