"Rob Peter to Pay Paul"

Here's just released animation of the Eagle mishap that started the current "crisis":

Pretty hairy, huh? Maj. Stilwell was lucky, to put it mildly.

Gen. John Corley, the top officer at Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base, Va., called the situation a "crisis" that would be best solved by an infusion of costly new aircraft rather than fixing jets that are 25 years old.

The mechanical troubles, most acute in the F-15 Eagles used to protect the United States, also have led to a patchwork approach to filling critical air missions at home and in Iraq and Afghanistan.

With nearly a third of the F-15 fleet grounded due to a defective support beam in the aircraft's frame, other fighter aircraft, including F-16s and new F-22s, are being shifted from duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"It's a rob Peter to pay Paul," Corley said at a Pentagon news conference. "It's unprecedented to have an air superiority fleet that's on average 25 years old.

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Other reports today suggest the Air Force is leaning on Boeing to take responsibility for a faulty manufacturing process that led to the longerons failing. Stay tuned. That subplot is bound to get sporty.

-- Ward