Germany has just FOUR useable Eurofighter jets available out of a fleet of 128!

#4419115 - 05/04/18 02:50 PM Re: Germany has just FOUR useable Eurofighter jets available out of a fleet of 128! [Re: PanzerMeyer]
Joined: Jun 2006 Posts: 286 No Fear Member
No Fear Member Joined: Jun 2006 Posts: 286	Originally Posted by PanzerMeyer Originally Posted by No Fear 1.Germany is a really wealthy,prosperous country (the richest in Europe) that not only has NOT been affected by the euro crisis but is probably the only country The US has the largest GDP and defense budget in the world and how often have planes like the F-22 or F-35 been grounded due to technical/hardware issues? Quite a few. True but it cannot be an excuse. Also,the F-22 and F-35 are more advanced/complex/new planes. And in the case of the Eurofighter Typhoon,it wasn't actually a technical/hardware issue that kept them grounded. From the 1st link: ''The problem stems from a cooling liquid leak in the aircraft's wing pod sensors, which are used to recognize hostile jets or incoming attacks. Without the defense system the Eurofighter jets are not combat ready.'' ''The wing pod issue is only one problem facing the Luftwaffe. Der Spiegel reported that there are only enough missiles to make only four Eurofigher jets ready for combat.'' ''A Bundeswehr spokesperson told Der Spiegel that the "daily actual availability" of the Eurofighter right now is better than last year.'' So this has been going on for a year!? So you might say that it is 'similar' th the US problem with the F-22/F-35 but in no way the same. Stupidity is invincible.

Originally Posted by No Fear

''A Bundeswehr spokesperson told Der Spiegel that the "daily actual availability" of the Eurofighter right now is better than last year.'' So this has been going on for a year!?

Well, there's several issues.
The number of aircraft that are ready to fly is "above 39" (that's where the "better than last year" quote is coming from).
The number of "combat ready" jets is calculated by the Spiegel by the number of available missiles that haven't expired shelf life; that's 16 AMRAAMs left, so four jets could be equipped with four missiles each, hence the headline "only four jets are combat ready".
Like I wrote before (and which has been elaborated at the link that you don't dare to click), this is a compounded problem insofar as the AMRAAM has been been maintained because it was scheduled to be replaced by the purchase of the IRIS-T missile. However, that program has experienced delays, so we're now in a situation where the old missile is effectively gone but the new one isn't yet in stock. Once that this problem has been rectified, the number of "combat ready" jets per Spiegel calculation will jump to at least 40, (hopefully more). Still not great, I admit, but maybe not quite to shockingly bad either.