U.S. Builds Afghan Air Base, but Where Are the Planes?
Shindand Air Base has an 8,000-foot runway, a gleaming
new headquarters complex and a cadre of motivated Afghan pilot candidates.
Because of the way Washington operates, however, it lacks
warplanes.
The budding Afghan air force was supposed to receive $355
million worth of planes custom-made for fighting guerrillas well ahead of the
U.S. withdrawal in 2014. Equipped with machine guns, missiles and bombs, those
reliable, rugged turboprop aircraft are cheaper to operate and easier to
maintain than fighter jets.
The Afghans won't get the planes on time. The Air Force
initially awarded a contract to a U.S. company to supply Brazilian-designed
planes. But it canceled the contract after a Kansas-based plane maker filed
suit to block it, and the Air Force decided the contract had insufficient documentation.
The Kansas congressional delegation also lobbied hard against the Brazilian
plane. The Air Force has started the bidding process again, and a new contract
likely won't be awarded until next year.
Afghanistan is unlikely to gain an independent, fully
functioning air force until around 2016 or 2017, two to three years after the
U.S. pullout, said Air Force Brig. Gen. Timothy Ray, who heads the NATO air
training command in Afghanistan.
"They have wasted the most precious commodity they
have in combat, which is time," says Edward Timperlake, a former Marine
Corps fighter pilot who served as a director of technology assessment at the
Pentagon until 2009 and is now retired.
Comments
Post a Comment