Destroy OUR Tomcats instead of theirs?!

[Kent Tomlinson]

By SHARON THEIMER, Associated Press Writer

2 hours, 11 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - A mechanical monster grabs the F-14 fighter jet and chews through one wing and then another, ripping off the Tomcat's appendages before moving onto its guts. Finally, all that's left is a pile of shredded rubble — like the scraps from a Thanksgiving turkey.

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The Pentagon is paying a contractor at least $900,000 to destroy old F-14s, a jet affectionately nicknamed "the turkey," rather than sell the spares at the risk of their falling into the wrong hands, including Iran's.

Within a workday, a $38 million fighter jet that once soared as a showpiece of U.S. airpower can be destroyed at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Ariz., the military's "boneyard" for retired aircraft.

"There were things getting to the bad guys, so to speak," said Tim Shocklee, founder and executive vice president of TRI-Rinse Inc. in St. Louis. "And one of the ways to make sure that no one will ever use an F-14 again is to cut them into little 2-by-2-foot bits."

The Defense Department had intended to destroy spare parts unique to the F-14 but sell thousands of others that could be used on other aircraft. It suspended sales of all Tomcat parts after The Associated Press reported in January that buyers for Iran, China and other countries had exploited gaps in surplus-sale security to acquire sensitive U.S. military gear, including F-14 parts.

Among other tactics, middlemen for the countries misrepresented themselves to gain access to the Defense Department's surplus sales or bought sensitive surplus from U.S. companies that had acquired it from Pentagon auctions and weren't supposed to allow its export.

Investigators also found some sensitive items accidentally slipping into surplus auctions rather than being destroyed as they were supposed to be. In an unusual move when dealing with retired aircraft, the Pentagon is trying to shut off all avenues for Iran's parts purchasers by demolishing the F-14s, then combing through the scraps to make sure nothing useful remains.

Iran is the only country trying to keep Tomcats airworthy. The United States let Iran buy the F-14s in the 1970s when it was an ally, long before President Bush named it part of an "axis of evil."

Shocklee's company won a three-year, $3.7 million contract to render surplus equipment useless for military purposes. The work includes the recent demolition of 23 Tomcats in Arizona, accounting for about $900,000 of TRI-Rinse's contract. The military is considering using the same process on its other F-14s.

The company has developed portable shredding machinery so the Pentagon can have sensitive items destroyed on a base instead of shipping them long distances to be shredded.

The Tomcat was a strike fighter with a striking price tag: roughly $38 million. By the 1980s it was a movie star with a leading role in the Tom Cruise classic "Top Gun." But as the planes are mangled into unrecognizable metal chunks, the jets with a 38-foot wingspan appear small and vulnerable.

The shearing machine, which uses pincers to rip apart the planes, weighs 100,000 pounds. The shredder is 120,000 pounds. An F-14 weighs about 40,000 pounds.

Among the shredded victims in Arizona: a plane flown by the "Tophatters" squadron, which led the first airstrike in Afghanistan when the U.S. invaded in October 2001.

The Pentagon retired its F-14s last fall. At last count, the military's boneyard in Arizona held 165 Tomcats, believed to be the only ones left out of 633 produced for the Navy. The others were scavenged for parts to keep others flying, went to museums or crashed, said a spokeswoman for the air base, Teresa Vanden-Heuvel.

As powerful as the grinding machinery is, not all of the F-14 can be shredded. The landing gear — built to withstand the force of slamming onto an aircraft carrier's deck — must be cut by hand with a demolition torch. It's made from steel with parts of titanium, so the shears can't cut it and the shredder can't chew it.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., considers the F-14 demolitions a good effort, but wants to go further and outlaw the sale of F-14 parts to anyone except museums. Wyden sponsored legislation that also would ban export licenses for F-14 components, which he believes will be more effective than Pentagon policies that he said have changed over time.

"I don't think internal rules — these internal initiatives — based on the track record of the Department of Defense, are sufficient," Wyden said.

The House passed similar legislation in June; a Senate vote is expected later this summer. The White House hasn't said whether Bush supports the idea.

F-14 preservationists said the Pentagon is handling the Tomcats they obtain differently.

As a Navy pilot, retired Capt. Dale Snodgrass delivered an F-14 to Iran — flying nonstop from the United States with roughly No. 68 of about 80 planes that Iran ordered.

Snodgrass said only key computers were taken out and ejection systems disabled on planes delivered to museums in past years. This year, when an F-14 went on display at a Miami museum, virtually everything was removed, leaving only a shell with the canopy painted black, said Snodgrass, who lives in St. Augustine, Fla.

Snodgrass is part of F-14 history. He flew Tomcats for roughly a quarter-century and amassed the most flight time in them of any pilot: more than 4,800 hours. He was named Navy pilot of the year around the time "Top Gun" hit theaters.

Snodgrass said he understands the Pentagon's destruction of F-14s but said it would be nice to see some preserved. Pilots dubbed the Tomcat "the turkey" because of its ungainly, turkey-like look when landing on aircraft carriers.

"When I first started it," Snodgrass said, "it was the biggest, the fastest, the most impressive, the most maneuverable fighter on the planet Earth."

___

On the Net:

Defense Logistics Agency: http://www.dla.mil/

F-14 Tomcat Association: http://www.f-14association.com/

TRI-Rinse: http://www.tri-rinse.com/

[viper50]

I saw that thing shred a Tomcat this morning on one of the news reports and thought it was a crying shame to do that. I guess all the Museums that wanted Tomcats are taken care of. It just doesn't seem right. Don M.

[Steve Filak]

Neutral corners, everyone. Next time I have to edit this thread, it gets canned.

[hazmatt]

I could use one in my front yard!

Matt

[Trigger]

So does this mean I won't be able to turn a control surface into a coffee table for my living room?

[Fouga23]

Shame only empty hulks go to museum. That's just destroying history :'( I also think one should be preserved oversees. Why not at the American museum at Duxford, UK?

[phantom]

You should see how the Canadian Armed Forces mangles an airframe before the mueseum gets them.....Places like the Canadian warplane heritage mueseum do a GREAT job making them presentable again.

[Dave Williams]

Well, to be honest, I think it's a little sad because I really don't think it will have the desired effect. Anyone who really wants F-14 parts will probably be able to get them, I think. There may be a enough surplus parts already out there to keep them flying for another 5 or 10 years, or they could simply copy, or have someone else copy, existing parts from their fleet. Even if a country really ran out of spares, they would most likely just retire the Tomcats and get advanced Flankers or Fulcrums as replacements.

Not sure how much of a threat some F-14As with 30 year old technology poses in the region anyway.

[Jonathan_Lotton]

We have no idea, or at least we havent been informed publically, if the Iranian Tomcats are baseline. There have been words spoken to the effect that they have been illicitly upgraded by the Russians.

Never assume your opponents blade is dull, because it could be razor sharp.

[davetur]

Well, to be honest, I think it's a little sad because I really don't think it will have the desired effect. Anyone who really wants F-14 parts will probably be able to get them, I think. There may be a enough surplus parts already out there to keep them flying for another 5 or 10 years, or they could simply copy, or have someone else copy, existing parts from their fleet. Even if a country really ran out of spares, they would most likely just retire the Tomcats and get advanced Flankers or Fulcrums as replacements.

Not sure how much of a threat some F-14As with 30 year old technology poses in the region anyway.

I completely agree on what you said.

Iran has been able to maintain its fleet of US aircraft (not only F-14s) airworthy for more than 20 years, some of the spares being supplied by their hystorical enemy, Israel. This has been openly admitted to some of my colleagues by an Israeli aerospace company no more than 4years ago.

Davide

[davetur]

We have no idea, or at least we havent been informed publically, if the Iranian Tomcats are baseline. There have been words spoken to the effect that they have been illicitly upgraded by the Russians.

Never assume your opponents blade is dull, because it could be razor sharp.

So if Russians have upgraded them (what does it mean illicitly? Ethical aspects are not part of arms sales anywhere in the world) then the Iranians have no need for spares....

Davide

[vince14]

They're getting chopped because there are a number of people in the US military and government who refuse to believe that a backwards Third World Stone Age nation like Iran can maintain a complex aircraft like the F-14 without resorting to stealing parts from museum pieces.

This logic, of course, neglects the facts;

1) At least one Iranian F-14 went to Moscow to be backward engineered, thus opening up a source for spares

2) The Israelis have also provided upgrades for the Iranian F-14 fleet

3) The indigenous Iranian aerospace industry has been manufacturing spares for a number of years, and even attempting to upgrade the F-14 itself

Also, it doesn't occur to these people that the Iranians managed to keep the Tomcat flying when there were NO spare F-14's lying around. If they have to resort to stealing parts from museums, how on earth did they manage to keep them flying when the USN had a monopoly on F-14 spares?

It's a political decision based on ignorance of the 'enemy', and (I suspect) there's a few senior types in the Navy who really, really want to make sure the Tomcat is dead.

Vince

[Cobrahistorian]

There was actually an incident recently where certain agents of certain governments unfriendly to the US were attempting to obtain F-14 parts. Because of that, these airframes are getting shredded. It really is unfortunate.

Jon

[Tomcat7742]

This is crazy, makes me sick. Maybe we should start shredding up all the F-4's and F-5's that are still around because they might try to get parts from them also.

If Iran needs parts then I'm sure they have the ability to reproduce. Not to mention certain countries would be more then happy to make parts for them. That's money in the bank, especially for countries who need it like Russia.

[Zmey Smirnoff]

1) At least one Iranian F-14 went to Moscow to be backward engineered, thus opening up a source for spares

Could you provide more info and source on this please?

Respectfully

Z.S.

[AussiePaul]

http://en.sevenload.com/videos/ZgEywUz/20070702F14vsMonster

[Guest LITTLE BIRD 117]

OMG! I just saw this on FOX news about 10min. ago! I felt like crap for about three minutes!!! It showed the evil people that are getting paid 1,000,000mil to kill the tomcat. It is for national and homeland securtiy thou. At least I have one in my on back yard! HA HA!!

[Ironhead]

1) At least one Iranian F-14 went to Moscow to be backward engineered, thus opening up a source for spares

You know, I see a forum here and there post this but there is NO evidence supporting this claim.

Don't use the 'edited' image of a F14 with a Russian star as evidence.

[Waco]

First off, for the conspiracy theorists, the airplane is long dead. The Navy is trying to reduce the number/types of aircraft it needs to support on the boat, and that is what became the final nail in the Tomcat's coffin. So sneaky Navy leadership, with devious subterfugious intentions to keep the F-14 from resurging out of retirement to become the Navy's premier fighter in a New World Order is beyond ridiculous.

Second, while it may be possible to backwards engineer, re-manufacture, re-design, or update the Iranian airframes using 30 year old spare parts, its MUCH easier to procure off-the-line spare parts from still-airworthy airframes. While rumors (NOTE RUMORS) of Israeli/Russian updates or modernizations MIGHT someday be proven accurate, they still don't help with basic things like fittings, control actuators, mechanical flight control scheduling systems, etc. These are NOT easy to manufacture without original, specific schematics and tooling. Is it possible? Sure....but it takes a lot of time and energy. If you can simpy acquire those parts from aircraft that are being tossed out, wouldn't you try to do it?

Even if some parts of the IRIAF fleet have been upgraded, there are still numerous examples in storage that might benefit from a sudden cascade of spare parts, allowing more examples to be made airworthy.

Bottom line: 1 - there is ample evidence that third party brokers were attempting to procure F-14 parts for Iran 2 - While it may be impossible to stop ALL parts/spares from falling into Iranian hands, you can certainly reduce the amount of loss, and make it more difficult to acquire those parts 3 - If you can deny a potential enemy access to the components necessary to keep his best air asset flying, wouldn't you?

This is not about destroying heritage, history, or intentionally keeping a retiree down.

[Wild Bill]

3 - If you can deny a potential enemy access to the components necessary to keep his best air asset flying, wouldn't you?

Agreed - all too often the sentiment is "well someone else is doing it" when it should be "we'll do what we can, even if it isn't a complete solution to the problem..."

As much as I hate to see an airplane demolished, not every one of them will find a home. Keeping a plane in viewable condition (never mind flyable) isn't cheap and home-town museums often can't afford the one or two they have on pylons already. Which is more sad - seeing a plane demolished or seeing a 30 year old warbird rotting away in a town square, covered with poop, canopy crazing from heat, and rust smears around rivets and seams?

B

[albert_sy2]

Well.......... Tomcats are more than 30 years old anyway..... but still quite a lethal airplane, so it would be good to deny the enemy any spare parts that he needs to keep his birds flying.

[Dave Fleming]

At the risk of incurring Steve's mailed fist, I gotta say 'Yawn!'

You can't keep them all in Museums, and as long as a potential enemy flies them, then cutting off the spares source is a good idea.

The only thing that is happening is that these are being shredded rather than the usual death of a thousand cuts in an Arizona scrap yard.

[Trigger]

On a long enough time line, the survival rate for every aircraft drops to zero.

[Ironhead]

First off, for the conspiracy theorists, the airplane is long dead. The Navy is trying to reduce the number/types of aircraft it needs to support on the boat, and that is what became the final nail in the Tomcat's coffin. So sneaky Navy leadership, with devious subterfugious intentions to keep the F-14 from resurging out of retirement to become the Navy's premier fighter in a New World Order is beyond ridiculous.

Second, while it may be possible to backwards engineer, re-manufacture, re-design, or update the Iranian airframes using 30 year old spare parts, its MUCH easier to procure off-the-line spare parts from still-airworthy airframes. While rumors (NOTE RUMORS) of Israeli/Russian updates or modernizations MIGHT someday be proven accurate, they still don't help with basic things like fittings, control actuators, mechanical flight control scheduling systems, etc. These are NOT easy to manufacture without original, specific schematics and tooling. Is it possible? Sure....but it takes a lot of time and energy. If you can simpy acquire those parts from aircraft that are being tossed out, wouldn't you try to do it?

Even if some parts of the IRIAF fleet have been upgraded, there are still numerous examples in storage that might benefit from a sudden cascade of spare parts, allowing more examples to be made airworthy.

Bottom line: 1 - there is ample evidence that third party brokers were attempting to procure F-14 parts for Iran 2 - While it may be impossible to stop ALL parts/spares from falling into Iranian hands, you can certainly reduce the amount of loss, and make it more difficult to acquire those parts 3 - If you can deny a potential enemy access to the components necessary to keep his best air asset flying, wouldn't you?

This is not about destroying heritage, history, or intentionally keeping a retiree down.

Great post Waco.

[Cobrahistorian]

He said "subterfugious"!

:D