Air Force grounds entire fleet of F-15s

[Breeze54]

Air Force grounds entire fleet of F-15s

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/11/06/air_force_grounds_entire_fleet_of_f_15s/

Move in response to plane breaking in midair last week

By Peter Spiegel
Los Angeles Times / November 6, 2007

WASHINGTON -

The US Air Force has grounded its entire fleet of F-15s, the service's premier fighter aircraft,
after one of the planes disintegrated over eastern Missouri during a training mission, raising
the possibility of a fatal flaw in the aging fighters' fuselage that could keep it out of the
skies for months.

General T. Michael "Buzz" Moseley, the Air Force chief of staff, ordered the grounding Saturday
after initial reports showed that the Missouri Air National Guard fighter plane broke apart Friday
in midair during a simulated dogfight.

Although the 688 F-15s in the Air Force's arsenal gradually are being replaced by a new generation
of aircraft - the F-22 - they remain the nation's most sophisticated front-line fighters. US officials
said the F-15s are used heavily for protecting the continental United States from terrorist attack,
as well as for combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

More.....

[Benhurst]

1. I feel sooo much safer with Dubya Bush manning the helm.

The World's Only Superpower, indeed. Sure.

[madokie]

2. could the air force brass be trying to twart the impending bombing of iran

by taking away some of the weapons it would take. I hope

[krispos42]

3. Well, those airframes do eventually fatigue

And a lot of those planes are 20, 30 years old now. A war in Iraq, a decade or more of combat patrols over Iraq, then another war in Iraq... yeah, they might be wearing out now.

Be kinda tough to attack or defend against Iran with no F-15s.