DLA junks multimillion planes for Afghan Air Force, sells scrap for 6 cents a pound

http://www.navytimes.com/article/20141009/NEWS/310090068/DLA-junks-multimillion-planes-Afghan-Air-Force-sells-scrap-6-cents-pound

DLA junks multimillion planes for Afghan Air Force, sells scrap for 6 cents a pound
Oct. 9, 2014 - 03:34PM |
By Jeff Schogol
Staff Writer

Sixteen unusable transport aircraft that the U.S. government bought for the Afghan Air Force have been scrapped for pennies on the dollar, according to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.

All told, the Defense Department spent $486 million for 20 G222 planes, of which 16 were sold as scrap to an Afghan construction company for about $32,000, the office announced Thursday in a news release. . The remaining four planes are being stored at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

The Air Force let the contract for the planes with Alenia Aermacchi North America expire in March 2013 because the planes were often grounded due to a lack of spare parts.

After flight operations ended, the 16 planes in Afghanistan sat on the tarmac at Kabul International Airport until they were recently scrapped by the Defense Logistics Agency and sold for 6 cents per pound of scrapped material, wrote John F. Spoko, Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction, in an Oct. 3 letter to Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James.
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