USA Palming Off Third Rate Equipment To Australia : Faulty Growler Aircraft Burst Into Flames
The Australian Department of Defence is taking stock of all military purchases from not only the USA but also from other European Countries, after the United States refused to pay any compensation for a new $125 million warplane destroyed by fire due to a faulty engine.
This huge loss came to light during a parliamentary hearing where officials also disclosed that the cost of Australia’s Future Submarine program could top an estimated $225 billion by 2080.
In January 2018, an American-made Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Growler aircraft met with an accident by skidding across the runway during take off. The jet burst into flames following an engine malfunction while take-off at a military base in Nevada, US.
An investigation by RAAF confirmed beyond doubt that there was a major component failure. A high pressure compressor just broke into three pieces with one segment piercing through the bottom of the jet and taking a chunk out of the runway.
The badly-damaged aircraft had to be written off after the “most serious incident of its kind for the RAAF in more than 25 years”.
Ever since the incident Australia has been crying hoarse to claim compensation from the United States Navy for the loss of the $125 million warplane, but the Americans have been refusing to even talk about it.
As per the statement of Air Vice Marshal Greg Hoffman, the head of the Defence Department’s Aerospace Systems Division, to the Australian Senate, now it will be the Australian taxpayers who have to foot the bill. The Americans have flatly refused payment of any kind.
As per the US Navy “In the aircraft industry there’s a lot of self-insurance that goes on and so the owner and operator holds the liability for the aeroplane.”
Realizing this the Australian Defence Ministry is now examining whether there were warranty protections on other large purchases. Now they are studying legal aspects on all of the foreign military sales.
The RAAF has 11 jets remaining in its EA-18G Growler fleet but is yet to decide whether it will replace the damaged aircraft.
The Australian Senate is now also worried hat the total life time cost of Australia’s next fleet of submarines could reach in excess of $220 billion over the next 60 years.
Rear Admiral Gregory Sammut, the head of the Future Submarine program, has estimated the cost of building the 12 French- designed fleet to be around $80 billion plus estimates for the sustainment of the future submarine fleet would be an additional $145 billion over the next six decades.
