The United States many aircraft into the aircraft graveyard, battleships into the National Defense Reserve fleet of our country also has a similar reserve institutions.
The United States is the world's premier military power today, its war strength is strong, hegemonic, war potential is based on a strong, unfathomable. According to informed sources, the United States land, sea and air forces have built a large independent strategic reserve system, these weapons and equipment in the statistics of military power is often intentionally ignored, as long as the outbreak of war, can immediately be put into use. For the U.S. Army's vacant weapons and equipment, "guns in the warehouse" does not mean waste, "armored" does not mean abandoned, and more often than not, they are still "calm", "power", "power", "power", "power", "power", "power", "power" and "power". They are still more often than not synonymous with "ease", "power" and "dollars".
Aircraft "zombies" discounted rich
Along with the Navy and Air Force status, the U.S. Navy was originally equipped with the F-14 "Tomcat" shipborne multi-purpose fighters have been F / A-18E / F "Super Hornet" fighters have been replaced by F/A-18E/F fighters. The U.S. Air Force's current F-15 and F-16 fighters will gradually be replaced by the new F-22 and F-35 fighters. What will happen to the former "air supremacy" of these still "shiny".
The answer lies in the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center near Tucson, Arizona. Because the U.S. military retired aircraft will be transported to the center for processing, so also known as the "aircraft graveyard". After the U.S. military retired aircraft arrived here, the maintenance center will conduct a comprehensive "physical examination" for the aircraft, the results of the test will be recorded. In the center, the aircraft's guns, ejection devices and other more important and prone to dangerous parts will be removed for preservation. The fuel inside the airplane will be pumped out, and the airplane's engine inlet and tail nozzle will be sealed. The fuselage will also be sprayed with a protective film to prevent the fuselage, as well as the plane's electronic components, from being corroded by the harsh environment and damaged by animals.
The U.S. military has taken great pains to protect these retired planes, not just to recycle scrap metal, but to maintain and seal them as an important part of the strategic stockpile of equipment.
Here, all aircraft will be divided into four categories to deal with: the first category is to maintain good condition, ready to take off to perform the task of the aircraft; the second category is after a short period of time to maintain the aircraft can be reused; the third category of parts and components can be recycled to use the aircraft; the fourth category of the aircraft is about to be destroyed. That is to say, into the aircraft "graveyard" of the "zombie" in a considerable part of the still in good condition, if necessary, in a short period of time can be re-commissioned.
And, many of the U.S. military's decommissioned planes are modified here and then pushed back into the international arms market. The F-16s that the U.S. agreed to sell to Pakistan in 2006, as well as the P-3C anti-submarine planes and E-2T early warning planes that Taiwan had previously purchased, all came out of this "aircraft graveyard".
According to people familiar with the matter, the center currently holds more than 4,200 planes worth more than $27 billion, and the sealed planes and their supporting equipment are enough to rival the air force of a medium-sized country.
"Shadow fleet" demonstrates the strength of
In addition to frequent appearances around the world, the U.S. aircraft carrier fleet, the U.S. Navy in fact also has a strength is not to be underestimated "shadow fleet". This fleet had 2277 ships in its heyday, but the outside world is not familiar with its name. It is the U.S. Army's "National Defense Reserve Fleet".
The ships of this "shadow fleet" are usually hidden in ports all over the U.S. Among them, Port Benicia, California, Fort Eustis, Virginia and Beaumont, Texas are the three main bases of the fleet. The fleet's primary mission is to support U.S. forces in wartime or in the event of a national emergency.
The "Shadow Fleet" has had a great deal of success since its inception in 1925. During World War II. British merchant ships were repeatedly attacked by German submarines in the Atlantic Ocean and suffered heavy losses. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill asked U.S. President Roosevelt for urgent help. Forced by the pressure of the U.S. domestic, Roosevelt was unable to provide direct military assistance to the United Kingdom, so they looked at the "shadow fleet" sealed the old U.S. warships.
The U.S. and the U.K. signed the Destroyer for Base Agreement, in which the U.S. drew 50 destroyers from the "Shadow Fleet" to escort British merchant ships. These old ships became Britain's "straw", easing the shortage of British destroyers, but also for the U.S. in exchange for several important islands in the Caribbean Sea on the right to use the sea, land and air bases. During the Korean War, the "Shadow Fleet" used more than 540 ships to support the U.S. military, and 172 more during the Vietnam War.
Currently, merchant ships and military support vessels have become a major part of the U.S. Shadow Fleet due to the need for support capabilities, but there are still a large number of decommissioned Navy ships in the Shadow Fleet.
According to U.S. military statistics, as of the end of 2005, there were 577 ships in the "shadow fleet," including three aircraft carriers, eight amphibious tank landing ships and 54 destroyers, including the Spruance-class anti-submarine destroyer, which is still considered to be highly capable. "Spruance-class anti-submarine destroyers. Taiwan's purchase of "Kidd" class destroyers also came from the "shadow fleet". This shows that the strength of this "shadow fleet" of the U.S. military is really extraordinary.
The following single talk about aircraft carriers.
Re-emerging afterburners - aircraft carrier museum
For retired aircraft carriers, perhaps converting them into aircraft carrier museums is a good idea for them to play afterburners. After all, for these behemoths, it's a great time to be in service, and it's a great time to be out of service.
In the United States, which has the largest number of aircraft carriers, retired carriers have long been converted into aircraft carrier museums is not something unusual. Currently there are five aircraft carrier museums in the United States***. They are berthed in New York's "Intrepid", Southern California's Park Lazenger Hill's "Yorkton", Texas's "Lexington", California's Alameda's "Hornet", and the U.S. Navy's "Battle of the Bulldogs". Lexington, Texas; Hornet, Alameda, California; and Midway, San Diego.
Of these five aircraft carrier museums, the most famous is the USS Midway, which is currently the largest aircraft carrier and naval aviation museum in the United States. "The USS Midway was launched in March 1945 during World War II, less than six months after Japan announced its unconditional surrender. The ship is named after the famous battle of Midway in 1942, in which American forces defeated the Japanese fleet in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a turning point in the Pacific War. "The USS Midway served three tours of duty in Vietnam and participated in the 1991 Gulf War. The ship has seen many world firsts, with the world's first onboard takeoff and landing of a jet airplane on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Midway. It also saw the world's first naval missile battle, when U.S. forces fired V-2 rockets captured from the Germans from the USS Midway. 1992 saw the decommissioning of the USS Midway, the longest-serving ship in U.S. Navy history. In 1992, the U.S. Navy announced the decommissioning of the USS Midway, the longest-serving warship in the history of the U.S. Navy, with approximately 200,000 U.S. officers and enlisted men and women, including sailors and airmen, having served aboard. In order to realize the "Midway" aircraft carrier into a museum of dreams, supporters have not made much effort, they *** raised 8 million dollars, and spent a full two decades to overcome all the limitations of this huge ship to clear the dust, to see the light of day.
Moored in Alameda, California, the USS Hornet is the unluckiest of the five carrier museums. The USS Hornet, which played a major role in World War II and the Apollo moon landings in 1969, was nearly shut down by a power outage six years after it was converted into a museum because it couldn't make ends meet. According to Scott Almani, the museum's director, the museum's annual revenue for six years was only about 2 million dollars, while the operating costs were as high as 2.5 million dollars. The local power company demanded that the Hornet aircraft carrier museum pay off its $93 million debt within a specified time frame, or else it would have to pull the plug on the power supply. "The USS Hornet served in the Pacific War and Vietnam War, and was used to find astronauts returning to Earth during the world-famous Apollo moon landing in 1969. The Hornet is recognized as a valuable historical legacy because of the important role it played in the war effort as well as its contribution to the human exploration of space. The Hornet's converted museum has been described as a "living monument". The museum is open to visitors of all ages and regularly organizes commemorative and recreational activities, as well as patriotic education programs for young people. However, in the face of power outages, the Hornet Aircraft Carrier Museum can do nothing about it. It seems to rely on fame to eat is not a stopgap measure, to "Hornet" aircraft carrier museum to continue to develop, managers do not change the concept of changing business strategy is not possible.
Soul to the sea - test target ship
For retired aircraft carriers, as a test target ship bombed and sunk, it is another home. Although the "method of death" is very sad, but also not a good idea. And they sank to the bottom of the sea after the formation of warships reefs, on the contrary, became the paradise of the seabed fish, but also for the marine ecological environment to do a little contribution.
April 19 this year, the loss of power "United States" aircraft carrier was towed away from the old Philadelphia harbor, in the next time, the U.S. Navy in the carrier installed a number of high-explosive charges, according to the Naval Sea Systems Command beforehand, carefully planned for the implementation of the "live bomb attack ". After 25 consecutive days of indiscriminate bombing, the hull at 11:30 a.m. local time on May 14 began to enter a large amount of water, and then "elegantly" sank into the Atlantic Ocean, the test site of the U.S. Navy officers and men collectively witnessed the "sinking" process and salute. The carrier installed hundreds of sets of sensors and cameras captured and recorded the entire process of all the test data, these data will become the United States to build a new generation of aircraft carriers in the 21st century to provide an important reference for the ability to resist attack. However, the U.S. Navy did not disclose the wind to the outside world before the test, the test period also categorically rejected all media interviews. According to reports, blasting experiments are carried out separately from underwater and sea, and in the distance through the carrier on the monitoring device for observation, the information obtained will be provided to the various military shipbuilding enterprises, for the development of the next generation of aircraft carriers to provide valuable data. At present, the U.S. researchers in the measurement of the stability of the ship is still using the data obtained during World War II. In addition, some of the tests are military secrets, and neither the former USS America crew nor the news media are allowed to view them. The spokesman explained that the Navy did not want to reveal too much information about how the carrier was sunk, since no battleship of this size had ever been sunk before and little is known about how giant carriers are protected from war damage.
USS America is the third of the Kitty Hawk class of conventional carriers. A total of 70,000 Navy officers and men served aboard the USS America from the time it officially joined the U.S. Navy until it was decommissioned in 1996. It has participated in many major conflicts, including the Vietnam War, Operation Desert Storm, and Operation Sustained Freedom in Bosnia, and has received five Battle Star Awards, three Navy Collective Commendations, and three Navy Commendations. He has received five Combat Star Awards, three Navy Collective Commendations, three Meritorious Unit Awards, and seven Expeditionary Awards. Therefore, the retired veterans have a deep affection for the warship, when they learned the news of the sinking of the U.S.S. United States are very sad.
With the USS America slowly entering the water, the world's first aircraft carrier used as a target ship for maneuvers, thus bringing its life to a successful conclusion. It is the world's largest warship buried in the bottom of the ocean in war and peace, in the last years, can "horse leather wrapped body", for the development of a new generation of aircraft carriers to provide anti-attack ability of the relevant data, "U.S." aircraft carrier really should be Chairman Mao his old man's words. The U.S. aircraft carrier "U.S.S." really deserves the words of Chairman Mao's old man, "live a great life, die an honorable death".
Of course, the retired USS America is not the only carrier involved in the test. Prior to this, the U.S. aircraft carrier "Vengeance", in the unfinished, that is, in 1946 to 1948 to participate in a series of explosive tests, also obtained valuable test data. However, the "Vengeance" did not "return to the sea" like the "U.S.", perhaps because the weapons and equipment at that time had not yet reached the present level. In the end, the scarred USS Vengeance was sold to a steel mill for dismantling and disassembly.
"Unlimited resurrection" - second-hand trading
Looking at the world market for naval weaponry in the past 10-15 years, the phenomenon of retired ships dominating the market deserves special attention, with most of the trading programs centered around the naval powerhouses. trading programs are centered around the retired ships of various naval powers, the number and amount of transactions are absolutely dominant, and the retired aircraft carrier transactions are an inseparable part of it.
For a developed country that has the ability to build aircraft carriers, how to deal with decommissioned carriers has been a big headache. And it's also a headache for a developing country that doesn't have the ability to build aircraft carriers and is desperate to have them. But if you look at these two problems together, then the problem is easy to solve. As a result, the world has spawned a new kind of market - the second-hand aircraft carrier trading market. The world's top sources of decommissioned aircraft carriers are now Britain, France, the United States and Russia, while the top buyers are countries like India, Brazil, Thailand and Australia.
As one of the world's largest developing countries, India seems to be obsessed with second-hand aircraft carriers. 1957, not long after independence, India looked at the fifth of the six British-built dignity-class light aircraft carriers, 20,000-ton "Hercules" No. R11, and renamed it "Vikrant". "Vikrant was decommissioned on January 31, 1997 and is now in the Indian Maritime History Museum. "The successful trade of Vikrant made India the first country in Asia to have an aircraft carrier after World War II. In the third Indo-Pakistani War in the early 1970s, the carrier Vikrant successfully carried out a naval blockade mission against Pakistan, showing the great role of aircraft carriers in the sea battle for air control, thus inspiring India to expand its carrier fleet determination. In May 1986, India purchased the retired British light aircraft carrier HMS Athletic God for 50 million pounds, renamed it HMS Valliant, and formally joined the Indian Navy in May of the following year after in-depth modifications in the United Kingdom to become the flagship of the Western Fleet in Mumbai. Defense Minister Fernandes and visiting Russian Defense Minister Ivanov signed an agreement in New Delhi for India to purchase the decommissioned Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov and 28 MiG-29K carrier-based fighter jets worth $1.5 billion. The contract is worth $1.5 billion and includes the purchase of 28 MiG-29K carrier-based fighter jets. The ship is scheduled to join the Indian Navy in 2008. Of course, this may be the last time the Indian Navy buys a used aircraft carrier, because on April 11th of this year, India's Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced that the construction of a 37,500-ton carrier called "Blue Guardian" had officially started. The entire carrier construction is expected to cost $ 7.46 billion, taking eight years, this is India's most ambitious military program to date, but also the first time by the third world countries to build their own aircraft carriers, and its completion will mark the world's second-hand aircraft carrier trading market will lose a "persistent buyer".
Brazil, another developing country, is also a regular on the used carrier market. It first bought a decommissioned light carrier called Minas Gerais in 1960. This British-made aircraft carrier began service in 1945, its displacement of 1.99 million tons, can carry 20 aircraft and 1,300 crew, mainly used for anti-submarine warfare. 2000, Brazil spent 12 million U.S. dollars to buy a decommissioned French aircraft carrier "Fuxi", which began service in 1963, and renamed it "S?o Paulo". In 2000, Brazil spent $12 million to purchase the Fuxi, a retired French aircraft carrier that had been in service since 1963, and renamed it the S?o Paulo. "The Fuxi is a conventionally powered aircraft carrier with a displacement of 32,800 tons, a hull length of 265 meters, and a capacity of 40 aircraft and 2,200 crew. "The Fuxi participated in the Gulf War and the Kosovo War. Due to the "Fuxi" joined, so that the Brazilian Navy has become the most powerful naval air control capabilities in South America.
Turning trash into treasure -- aircraft carrier park
Turning aircraft carriers into military-themed carrier parks is a bold idea that only the Chinese can come up with. However, with the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court announced on February 28 this year, "Minsk" aircraft carrier world Industrial Co., Ltd. formally bankrupt, so that China's first military-themed aircraft carrier park in the operation of five years into history.
Since the end of the last century, China has imported three decommissioned aircraft carriers, the "Minsk", "Melbourne" and "Varyag", which have been used for the first time in China's history. "Minsk" carrier is the most notable. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian Navy was forced to announce the decommissioning of the Minsk, the world's fifth-largest aircraft carrier, after removing key components from the ship in 1995, and then decommissioning the Minsk. In 1995, after dismantling key parts of the ship, the Minsk was sold as scrap metal to the South Koreans, who in turn sold the Minsk to China.
September 27, 2000, after careful renovation of the "Minsk aircraft carrier world" officially opened for business, less than a year after the opening of one of the most popular attractions in the Pearl River Delta. Fresh ideas, bold road, the twists and turns of the transportation process, the imaginative aircraft carrier sightseeing publicity, all for the "Minsk" aircraft carrier military theme park's pre-eminence, the opening of a successful article. 5 years, "Minsk" attractions cumulative total number of tourists received 5 million, with a total income of nearly 5 million. Over the past five years, the Minsk attraction has received a total of 5 million visitors, with a total income of nearly 500 million yuan and a tax payment of nearly 20 million yuan. The aircraft carrier world quickly and the window of the world, the king of the building and so on together to become the Shenzhen landmark attractions.
"Minsk Aircraft Carrier World" is located in Shenzhen Shatoujiao seaside, adjacent to the famous Chung Ying Street, is currently China's and even the world's only one aircraft carrier as the main body of the military theme park, was awarded the "National Science Education Base It has been awarded as "National Science Education Base" and "Guangdong Military Science Education Base". The park consists of two parts: the aircraft carrier "Minsk" on the sea and the "Minsk" square on the land. The first phase of the aircraft carrier at sea to open to the public nearly 30,000 square meters of sightseeing tour area, the carrier's original weapons systems, combat command systems, torpedo launching bays, missile launching systems, as well as officers and men living quarters are refurbished; Russian space exhibition, "the world aircraft carrier layer, the former Soviet Medal of Honor uniforms layer," the exhibition and the flight deck of the Mig-23 fighter jet, MiG-23 fighter jet, MiG-23 fighter jet, MiG-23 fighter jet, MiG-23 fighter jet, MiG-23 fighter jet, and MiG-23 fighter jet. -23 fighter, Mi-24 helicopter gunships, strong -5 fighters composed of a powerful aviation corps, such as the display of magnificent, unique; can participate in military entertainment projects such as combat simulation demonstration, space simulation launch, ship gun launch, carrier war movie, relying on modern high-tech, fully utilizing sound, light, electricity, and so on. Full use of sound, light, electricity and other means, novel and exciting, colorful; full of exotic Russian song and dance performances are colorful; flight deck on the majestic honor guard performance is also fascinating. The Minsk Square on land consists of the front square, back square and carrier center building, an area of more than 80,000 square meters. Entering the front square of the park, the solemn and neat honor guard performance greets you, the guard posts are set up on both sides of the passage, and the main sculpture of "casting swords into ploughshares" on the peace square attracts people's deep thoughts. After the square has artillery positions, tank positions, aviation, ground and air missile bases and battlefield theater and other projects, focusing on military entertainment, weapons display, performances and seaside recreation, the sea simulation of the sea war is thrilling. Nearly 20,000 square meters of the carrier center building is designed in a unique style, both dining, shopping, office, leisure and other functions. The whole square combines the rich southern seaside flavor and military atmosphere organically. Nevertheless, the insolvency of Minsk Carrier World Industrial Company Limited, the manager of Minsk Aircraft Carrier Park, coupled with poor management and other reasons, finally led to the bankruptcy of Minsk Aircraft Carrier Park.
With the bankruptcy of the Minsk Carrier Park, people are now looking at the Varyag, a former Soviet carrier that was never built. After the modification of the "Varyag" since July 2001 since the opening, the average daily reception of domestic and foreign tourists more than 5,000 people, the annual total income of nearly 20 million yuan of tourism tickets, become a new hot spot for sightseeing in Dalian, and its fate will be how? What will happen to it? People don't know yet. However, it is known that the aircraft carrier park has opened a new path for dealing with decommissioned aircraft carriers.
Smashing pots and pans -- dismantling and decomposition
Aircraft carriers can only be dismantled after decommissioning if they really don't have any other use for them. Generally speaking, first of all, the weapons and equipment on the carrier is first disassembled, and then the hull and power equipment and other demolition. But for a behemoth like an aircraft carrier, disassembly and decomposition is not a lucrative business. As these decommissioned carriers often have a large amount of toxic substances, asbestos and expired fuel, and even nuclear reactors, etc., so that the cost of dismantling has been high. According to statistics, the cost of dismantling each carrier is about 65 to 70 million dollars. Such a high cost of dismantling, so that the national navy can only be a sigh of relief, even if the rich and powerful U.S. Navy will often feel stretched to the limit. According to reports, the U.S. Navy's annual investment in this area is only 20 million U.S. dollars, and in the dismantling process will often be interrupted for various reasons. For example, the "Sea Coral" before and after the experience of seven years before the completion of the dismantling in 2003.
So, the navies chose to sell the decommissioned carriers to other companies (mainly developing countries), and then disassembled by them, so that also fall a "leisure". However, because it involves environmental protection, leakage of confidentiality and other reasons, so there are often disputes, which is also the national navies do not want to see.
Greenpeace believes that the developed countries to sell used aircraft carriers to developing countries, in fact, want to transfer toxic and hazardous substances from their own countries to other countries, the use of cheap labor in developing countries to destroy them. It violates the Basel Convention (the full name is the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, which was adopted by 104 countries at the World Conference on Environmental Protection in Basel, Switzerland, on March 22, 1989, and entered into force on May 5, 1992, and currently **** there are 152 signatory countries, but the United States, the world's most industrialized country, is not a party to the treaty).
In 2003, the French navy's former flagship, the aircraft carrier Clemenceau, was stranded off the coast of Sicily, Italy, after a dispute over a contract for dismantling rights. The 33,000-ton carrier was decommissioned in 1997 after 35 years of service and sold to a Spanish company. Under an agreement between the French Ministry of Defense and the company, the Clemenceau was towed to a port in northern Spain for dismantling. But since leaving its base in Toulon in the Mediterranean, the carrier has not headed for the Strait of Gibraltar, but toward Turkey. According to French Defense Ministry spokesman Briau, "There is a European convention on asbestos removal, and one of the clauses in the contract specifies that the dismantling will take place in Europe, not in Turkey. The French government canceled the contract on Tuesday due to the company's serious breach of its obligations under the contract." The French government then gave the dismantling rights to a German company to carry out the dismantling at the Greek port of Piraeus.
Leaks have similarly constrained the dismantling of decommissioned carriers, and in 1995, at the behest of then-Russian Navy Chief of Staff Khmelinov, the Pacific Fleet sold two decommissioned carriers, which had been in service for only 14 and 10 years, to South Korea's Daewoo Group as scrap metal for $13 million. According to Russia's Novaya Gazeta, when the Russian Navy sold the two decommissioned carriers, the Pacific Fleet's relevant departments did not dismantle the weapons and equipment on the carriers as required. When the counterintelligence department of the Pacific Fleet discovered the above problem, it was too late and the two carriers had been towed to a South Korean port. With that, some secret weaponry may have been leaked.