Airplanes are standing in the middle of the desert. Slender rows of winged vehicles painted with protective white paint. Around for many kilometers there is not a single living person, only occasionally a lonely wind blows clouds of sand between the fuselages of aircraft. Exclusion Zone. Dead wasteland.
Arranged in the correct geometric order, thousands of planes remain silent. They seem to be sculpted out of clay, like terracotta warriors from the tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. Among the white silhouettes one can guess the short, upwardly curved wings of the Phantoms, behind them the stocky figures of the A-4 Skyhawk deck attack aircraft froze. On the other side, endless rows of F-111 tactical bombers begin - they are carefully wrapped in vinyl film, because are still of considerable value. New rows of winged vehicles - huge B-52s are waiting here. The battle formations of strategic bombers are sometimes interspersed with C-141 Starlifter military transport aircraft, here and there the blades of the Hercules and Orions flicker here and there. The alley of F-16 fighters gives way to the Iroquois helicopter stands, behind them lined up supersonic B-1B Lancer missile carriers. Sometimes among the silhouettes of cars one can see "exotic" - the decayed mummy of the B-47 "Stratojet" or the piston "Trader" of the mid-50s … In the southern sector there is a mess - here and there half-gnawed aircraft skeletons stick out. What happened here? Did a man or a wild beast shred the once formidable war machines to shreds?
The territory of the aviation reserve is carefully guarded - after all, the second largest air force in the world is concentrated in this strange place. The aircraft stands are surrounded by an alarm fence with security lighting. Masts with cameras and thermal imagers are installed along the perimeter, intelligent video detectors, day and night, monitor the situation on the way to the airbase in automatic mode; the neighborhood is littered with sensitive seismic and magnetometric sensors - all this leaves no chance for intruders - residents of the nearby town of Tucson do not even try to enter the "abandoned" airfield and twist the fuel pump or titanium blades of a jet engine turbine for free.
Aviation Archeology News
Davis-Montan Air Force Base, at first glance, is a supernumerary hole located near the Mexican border. The 355th Fighter Wing is stationed here, but despite the name, it doesn't even smell like fighters - only A-10 Thunderbolt attack aircraft are in service. Davis Montan is the largest training center for ground attack pilots. In addition to the Thunderbolts, the 355th Wing includes a search and rescue unit (HC-130 aircraft and HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters), a command and control group (special EC-130), a medical service and its own West Coast aerobatic team. A-10.
However, Davis-Montan Air Base is not widely known for the tricks of dashing guys on the clumsy Thunderbolt aircraft. 11 square kilometers of the airbase is occupied by another interesting unit - the 309th Aerospace Equipment Repair and Restoration Group (AMARG). This unit is in charge of more than four thousand units of aviation equipment, including 13 spacecraft. The total cost of aviation junk is estimated at $ 35 billion.
The location of the storage was not chosen by chance: the stable arid climate of the Arizona desert allows for decades to store aircraft in the open air. Upon entering the storage, the aircraft undergoes a series of procedures related to ensuring its safe and long-term storage. First of all, all weapons are removed from it, charges of ejection seats, batteries, all valuable onboard equipment and electronics are dismantled. Then the fuel system is purged - instead of fuel, synthetic oil is pumped in, which, after a new purge, forms a protective film inside all pipelines. After these procedures, the plane is wrapped in plastic wrap and coated with white paint to avoid strong heating by the sun's rays. The tractor tows the car to a pre-selected location, where the plane will await the decision of its fate: perhaps it will be sold to the foreign air force or sent to "cannibalization", as a source of spare parts for younger aircraft. Another option is not excluded - everyone will forget about the plane, and it will quietly rot in the same place in some … twenty years.
Despite the insane amount of aviation junk, there is a constant rotation here - AMARG specialists select the most "promising" samples for implementation. Every year about 400 cars leave the base for various reasons, about the same amount goes into storage.
Many machines are in good technical condition - many are potentially recyclable. After modernization and installation of modern equipment, the aircraft are sold on the world market at dumping prices. For example, on October 19, 2012, a contract was signed for the supply of 36 F-16 mod. IQ for the Iraqi Air Force. According to some reports, the amount of the contract amounted to $ 5.3 billion - a good salary for the "aircraft cemetery"? By the way, the contract includes the supply of a second set of engines and a number of important components - all of this must have been found at the Davis-Montan airbase.
Sometimes even more interesting cases happen: in 2010, representatives of the Brazilian Navy visited the aircraft cemetery - they were looking for a suitable transport aircraft, a tanker aircraft and an early warning aircraft for the aircraft carrier São Paulo. Among the piles of aviation junk, the attention of the Brazilians was attracted by the ancient piston aircraft C-1 "Trader", which was used on the aircraft carriers of the US Navy in the 60s and 70s. As a result, a contract was signed for the purchase of eight vehicles of this type at the price of scrap metal. Four aircraft worth $ 167 million were upgraded for transportation and refueling purposes. Despite the ridicule, the Brazilian sailors are by no means stupid guys: the new aircraft, dubbed the KC-2 Turbo Trader, has only a common frame with the old aircraft - otherwise it is a completely new aircraft with turboprop engines, modern communications and navigation systems. As for AWACS aircraft with French Thales radars, three operator consoles and electronic reconnaissance equipment, the archaic appearance of the piston aircraft does not bother naval pilots at all - the AWACS aircraft does not participate in races, it must save fuel in order to "hang" over the aircraft carrier for as long as possible.
From an economic point of view, the 309th Aerospace Repair and Refurbishment Group is a highly efficient enterprise with 1000% annual revenue! According to military reports, every dollar invested in the storage facility at Davis-Montan brings in $ 11 in profits to the treasury. There is nothing surprising here: when there is a ready resource - thousands of liquid planes and helicopters (and new ones are brought every day!), It does not take a lot of entrepreneurial talent to disassemble expensive equipment and sell it for parts. The costs go only to the security of the base and the remuneration of aviation technicians. By the way, most of AMARG's 500 people are civilian specialists.
Of course, the army must be strong in military victories, not in effective trade in decommissioned aircraft. But at the same time … it seems to me that officials from the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation should learn to be careful about technology. In the meantime, Hollywood is showing interest in the fantastic landscapes of Davis-Montan - the shooting of cool blockbusters is constantly taking place at the airbase.
