US buys 81 Soviet-era combat aircraft from Russia's ally costing on average less than $20,000 each, report says

MicroWave@lemmy.world to World News@lemmy.world – 293 points – US buys 81 Soviet-era combat aircraft from Russia's ally costing on average less than $20,000 each, report says
businessinsider.com
  • The US has purchased 81 Soviet-era combat aircraft from Kazakhstan, the Kyiv Post reports.
  • Kazakhstan, a historic ally of Russia, is engaging more with Western nations.
  • The planes could be used for spare parts or deployed as decoys in conflict regions, the Post said.

The US has acquired 81 obsolete Soviet-era combat aircraft from Kazakhstan, the Kyiv Post reported.

Kazakhstan, which is upgrading its air fleet, auctioned off 117 Soviet-era fighter and bomber aircraft, including MiG-31 interceptors, MiG-27 fighter bombers, MiG-29 fighters, and Su-24 bombers from the 1970s and 1980s.

The declared sale value was one billion Kazakhstani tenge, said the Post, or $2.26 million, equalling an average value for each plane of $19,300.

The US purchased 81 of the aged, unusable warplanes, said the Ukrainian Telegram channel Insider UA, per the Post.

The motive behind the US purchase remains undisclosed, said the Post, but it raised the possibility of their use in Ukraine, where similar aircraft are in service.

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NCD in shambles over the fact that they missed out on getting combat aircraft for the price of a cheap car.

I'm actually pretty upset.

I assume this was a bulk discount, but still. If they'd asked I bet there could have been a hell of a GoFundMe.

I’d join a time share for that and could maybe turn a profit flying it at airshows (edit: scratch that)

But Ukraine deserves it more

You'd go bankrupt in maintenance costs and upkeep within the first month. You'd be looking at about $9,000 per hour of flight time in maintenance and component costs, and about $7,500 in fuel costs (JP-8).

The are going to strip these for spare parts. I guarantee it.

I was thinking more of like putting it on my land to look at not fly

That's a hell of a lawn ornament. Lol

Well 20k isn't a lot for some people lol, or could take a loan and pay it off. Like someone else said it's basically the price of a car

Look, we just want it for reasons ok? What do you mean "stop measuring our front yard for a Su-27", "You'll be on a watch list"?

Yeahhhhh ok Ukraine does need them more kicks rocks

What do you mean “stop designing a cobra maneuver catch sling for the front yard”?!

What does NCD stand for in this context?

Non-Credible Defense, a shitposting community about international military affairs. The running joke is how everyone there is desperately horny for literal jets. Like, dress the jet up in a bridal gown and go to town on the thrusters level horny.

uwu notices your GBU-12 from across the room

Lmao best fucking shitposting /c/ on Lemmy

Non-Credible Defense !noncredibledefense

Thier admins ban you for disagreeing with them. It's a garbage community

Either whole thing is going over my head, or you hate satire.

Hate satire? Absurd proposition. Their main moderator nuke banned about 10 people on a thread I was contributing because apparently everyone was fear mongering as they disagreed when he said Russia has no operational nukes 🤷

He had a lot of downvotes and must have got upset so he permanently banned a solid 10+ people.

Getting emotional over downvotes is a meme at this point

That's what most of Lemmy is.

Hell, you can't even get a Cessna 172 that's as old as these planes for $20k. Add another zero to the end and people will start talking.

Even if the thing doesn't get airborne anymore, it'd be one hell of a way to build up a flight simulator for gaming. Probably not what's going on here but it's what I'd do.

Other than demanding a trans-pride NATO catgirl sticker on the instrument panel, I'm sure they'd love that too.

my first reaction to the headline lmao

the catch is that these things won't fly, so these are useful only as spare part donors