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Apparently the Luftwaffe is giving up on a couple of its planes and retiring them immediately ahead of schedule. Aircraft 16+01 and 16+02 get a rest – seems they have a bad habit of breaking. The kicker? They are\u00a0 Germany’s equivalent to Air Force One and Air Force Two.\u00a0 Well, it’s not like they are high-profile in the country or anything, right?<\/p>\n
Yesterday, in a tweet that began with the words \u201csafety first!\u201d the air force reported that the four-engine A340 had to return to Abu Dhabi after taking off from there. \u201cDue to a technical fault, the wing flaps could not be retracted correctly. We are working at full speed to enable our guests to continue their journey and will inform you when it resumes,\u201d the Luftwaffe stated…<\/p>\n
The fault reportedly appeared after refueling in Abu Dhabi, leaving the minister \u201cstranded for hours while the technical crew battled to fix a problem with the wing flaps,\u201d according to the AFP<\/em> news agency.<\/p>\n
Later that day, the next update brought more bad news:<\/p>\n
\u201cA340 \u2014 Mission aborted!\u201d the Luftwaffe tweeted. \u201cThe problem occurred again with the now fully refueled machine. We are now landing back in Abu Dhabi.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, previous technical problems have also prevented the same aircraft from undertaking important duties.<\/p>\n
Most notably, back in 2018, the-then German Chancellor Angela Merkel\u2019s trip to the G20 summit was delayed, due to an electronic fault on the jet.<\/p>\n
Also in 2018, Olaf Scholz \u2014 then the finance minister, now the chancellor \u2014 was forced to take a commercial flight back from Indonesia after rodents chewed cables on the same A340.<\/p>\n
In May this year, Baerbock was again stranded in the Middle East, after her aircraft suffered a flat tire in Qatar. She was forced to extend her visit there by a day.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The planes will be replaced with three A350-900s, already in service (but none were available yesterday – oops.) Guess they listened to Mr. Fields: “If at first you don’t succeed,\u00a0 give up. No sense being a damn fool about it.”<\/p>\n
However, the Luftwaffe has repeatedly been criticized for failing to meet adequate levels of aircraft availability.<\/p>\n
Back in 2017, for example, it emerged that only around 35 percent of the Tornado combat aircraft fleet was combat-ready at any given time. While a replacement has now been lined up for these jets, they continue to serve, for now, alongside the newer Eurofighter EF2000, which has suffered from availability problems of its own.<\/p>\n
In recent years, as many as 40 percent of the Luftwaffe Eurofighter fleet has been undergoing modification. A lack of spare parts further compounds the problem.<\/p>\n
These kinds of issues are also not restricted to the Luftwaffe\u2019s aircraft. In the past, we have reported on problems faced by the Germany Army\u2019s helicopter fleets. As of November 2019, just 15 percent of German Army Tiger attack helicopters and only around 12 percent of its NH90 transport helicopters were mission capable.\u00a0 The War Zone<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Guess all these years of cheaping on the defense budget has caught up to them. This sure doesn’t sound like the Luftwaffe of years past.<\/p>\n
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