The U.S. military has dropped the F-16 again, what are the reasons for the frequent crashes?
On January 31, a U.S. F-16 fighter jet crashed off the west coast of South Korea, and the pilot ejected and was rescued. This is less than a year after the US military stationed in South Korea has had three F-16 crashes in a row.
Yonhap News Agency quoted a source familiar with the situation as saying that a US F-16 fighter plane crashed in the sea near Jido, Gunsan City, Jeollabuk-do, South Korea, that morning. On December 11, 2023, an American F-16 fighter jet crashed during routine training in South Korea. In May 2023, an American F-16 fighter jet crashed during a routine training session in an agricultural area south of Seoul.
It is not only the F-16 fighter that has had three accidents in succession, but other US fighters have also been involved in accidents.
On January 4, a U.S. Air Force B-1B strategic bomber crashed while landing at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, and all four crew members on board ejected. In November 2023, there were three crashes in the U.S. military. On November 29, 2023, the CV-22 "Osprey" transport aircraft belonging to the Yokota base of the US military stationed in Japan in Tokyo crashed, killing all eight people on board. On November 20, 2023, a U.S. Navy P-8A anti-submarine patrol aircraft broke off the runway, slightly injuring nine people on board. In November 2023, the U.S. European Command announced that a U.S. military plane crashed in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea during a training flight.
There are many objective factors involved in the crash of a military plane, and in fact, it is impossible for any country to completely avoid it. US planes have had many accidents, and there are both subjective and objective factors.
First of all, some US fighters are too old. What is the average age of the U.S. Air Force fleet? Tell you 29 years, about half of the aircraft date back to the 80s of the 20th century or earlier.
The B-1B strategic bomber entered service in 1986 and has been in service for 38 years to date. The B-52 bomber, the T-38 Talon trainer and the KC-135 tanker are even older, some of which have been in service for 60 years. Even the young F-22 is generally more than 15 years old. The average age of the F-16 is more than 26 years. If the age of the aircraft is too long, it will inevitably lead to serious aging of the body, and it is prone to accidents of one kind or another.
Second, the fast-paced and high-intensity combat readiness of the US military is also an important reason for the accident.
The US military has been flexing its force all year round and picking quarrels and provoking troubles, which has made the officers and men of the US military highly nervous and exhausted. And the combat readiness rate of US aircraft is not high now. Only one-third of the "Hornet" fighters installed by the US Navy are capable of combat. The F-35 fighters installed by the US Air Force require more than 100 days of maintenance every year, which is equivalent to one-third of the time each year, and can only be parked in hangars. In the last 10 years, the average mission capability of US aircraft has been declining year after year.
According to foreign media disclosures, among the 46 types of military aircraft installed by the US military, the "Double Huey" multi-purpose helicopter is the only model that can meet the standard every year. The combat readiness rate is not high but overdrawn, the maintenance time becomes stretched, and a large number of old aircraft continue to be in service after simple modifications and repairs, which of course leads to frequent accidents.
Another reason is the hasty use of new technologies. US military aircraft now make extensive use of new technologies, the most typical of which is the "Osprey" aircraft. It combines the advantages of a helicopter and a fixed-wing aircraft in its design, making it a seemingly groundbreaking aircraft. However, this type of aircraft lacks in-depth research on the aerodynamic mechanism of the transition from level flight to vertical flight, so the stability and stability are not reliable.
In recent years, the US military's "Osprey" has been involved in accidents in Japan, South Korea, and Australia. For example, on August 27, 2023, a US "Osprey" aircraft crashed in the Tiwi Islands, north of Darwin, Australia, indicating that the US military has not fully understood this new technology.
Of course, some people say that they were forced out by the rapid development of China's military technology. China is chasing too fast, the US military must use new technology, it must use a lot of aircraft to deal with China, even if it is old, he has to use it in large quantities.
If that's the reason, there's no way around it. The US military does not look for the root cause of its own reckless militarism, and its eyes are always fixed on China, and I am afraid that its fighter planes will continue to fall.