Aircraft such as F-14 and F-117 are, I believe, retired. Retired, I anticipate, means obsolete. Were the United States to be heavily involved in a military campaign as significant in resources as was Vietnam in the late 1960s, would the Air Force and Navy be able to recall such retired aircraft to active service in a relatively short time? My thoughts are that these aircraft are not significantly inferior to the best currently in use by any military. And since many pilots are trained to use them, getting these pilots "sharp" again would be neither difficult nor time consuming.

Is this brief assessment accurate?

I doubt there is a stockpile of parts for those antiques. Plus the techs to work on them? Leave them in the boneyard where they belong.

I would speculate that they would be a good resource to exploit for UAV's. By eliminating pilot armor and other pilot related structures, the gross weight could be significantly reduced as to allow greater fuel capacity and resultant range increases.

quote:

Originally posted by Bobster:
I would speculate that they would be a good resource to exploit for UAV's. By eliminating pilot armor and other pilot related structures, the gross weight could be significantly reduced as to allow greater fuel capacity and resultant range increases.

If they are not cut up for scrap many become target drones.

Thought the reason for keeping them in the bone yard was for use in an emergency? Seems to me they took B 52s and A 10s out of retirement.

Grizz