22.08.21 08:00 ET –
From Defense One:
Defense Secretary Orders US Airlines to Help With Evacuation
This is only the third time in U.S. history this has happened which indicates just how severely our military airlift capacity has been decimated since Obama’s cuts began in 2010. Of course our military and civilian leaders can not obtain enough graft from simple things like military transport aircraft so there is a profit motive in this decline.
Excerpt from the article above:
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered the Civil Reserve Air Fleet to activate, requesting 18 aircraft from the U.S. airlines to help in the evacuation of Afghans and Americans.
The airlines impacted include American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Air Lines, and Omni Air. Hawaiian Airlines is requested to provide two aircraft and United Airlines is requested to provide four. It’s only the third time that the U.S. military has activated the Civil Reserve Air Fleet, or CRAF.
It’s not a lot, but it’s just the beginning. I wonder if more aircraft will be requested as the emergency in Afghanistan further impacts America’s military capabilities.
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Folks, I wish that I was joking, but this breaking news tonight is a demonstration of the insane lack of foresight and planning this clown regime has engaged in (from the Wall Street Journal):
U.S. Considers Ordering Commercial Airlines to Help in Afghan Evacuation
Excerpt:
The Biden administration is planning a dramatic ramp-up of its airlift from Kabul by making preparations to compel major U.S. airlines to help with the transportation of tens of thousands of evacuees from Afghanistan, while expanding the number of U.S. military bases that could house Afghans.
The White House is expected to consider activating the Civil Reserve Air Fleet, or CRAF, created in 1952 in the wake of the post-World War II Berlin Airlift, to provide nearly 20 commercial jets from up to five airlines to augment U.S. military efforts to transport Afghan evacuees from bases in the region, according to U.S. officials.
I know the Senile Old Man has no clue as to what is happening with our commercial airline fleet due to his China Virus paranoia and insanity, but to think “20 aircraft” is going to be enough to move an estimated 50,000 plus U.S. and Afghan citizens within 10 days is a true demonstration in incompetence and ignorance. In fact the relays from the other Middle Eastern bases the commercial airlines would fly from in Qatar, Bahrain, and Germany are insufficient considering most of our commercial pilots are already at their wits end flying endless hours without hotels to camp in and sleeping in airports for mandatory FAA hours of service breaks along with airline management incompetence.
This disaster keeps expanding and Senile Joe has no clue how to figure out a way to blame everyone else.
For a brief background on the U.S. Civil Reserve Fleet under the U.S. Air Force, here is a brief excerpt from their webpage:
A unique and significant part of the nation’s air mobility resources is the Civil Reserve Air Fleet, or CRAF. Selected aircraft from U.S. airlines, contractually committed to CRAF, augment Department of Defense airlift requirements in emergencies when the need for airlift exceeds the capability of military aircraft.
The CRAF has two main segments: international and national. The international segment is further divided into the long-range and short-range sections and the national segment satisfies domestic requirements. Assignment of aircraft to a segment depends on the nature of the requirement and the performance characteristics needed.
The long-range international section consists of passenger and cargo aircraft capable of transoceanic operations. The role of these aircraft is to augment the Air Mobility Command’s long-range intertheater C-5s and C-17s during periods of increased airlift needs, from minor contingencies up through full national defense emergencies.
Medium-sized passenger and cargo aircraft make up the short-range international section supporting near offshore and select intra-theater airlift requirements.
The airlines contractually pledge aircraft to the various segments of CRAF, ready for activation when needed. To provide incentives for civil carriers to commit aircraft to the CRAF program and to assure the United States of adequate airlift reserves, the government makes peacetime DOD airlift business available to civilian airlines that offer aircraft to the CRAF. DOD offers business through the CRAF Charter Airlift Services contract.
To participate in the international segments of CRAF, carriers must maintain a minimum commitment of 30 percent of its CRAF capable passenger fleet and 15 percent of its CRAF capable cargo fleet. Aircraft committed must be U.S.-registered and carriers must commit and maintain at least four complete crews for each aircraft.
In other words an already exhausted commercial fleet is now being ordered to supplant an insufficient military airlift capacity due to decades of neglect by politicians who think graft is job one.
Well done, Washington, D.C., well done.
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