Why You Shouldn't Buy Used Italian Airlifters
By
Bob Brewin
The aircraft are unsustainable, as the Air Force discovered in Afghanistan.
In 2008, the Air Force bought 18 twin-turboprop G. 222 aircraft, formerly used by the Italian Air Force, for the fledgling Afghan Air Force to use. The cost was pegged at $600 million.
Air Force Chief of Staff Mark Welsh III told a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee today that in retrospect, going the used aircraft route was a bad idea. It turns out that it’s hard to find parts and the aircraft are now “unsustainable.”
My wife tells me the same thing when I lust after a 57 DeSoto.