Boneyard of planes: How Pak F-16s waste in the desert

Created at the end of World War II, the Boneyard is officially called the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center (AMARC). The inventory of the Boneyard would not only put the combined air power of India and Pakistan (not to speak of the small countries) to shame, but also overshadow the US Air Force itself. At last count, the Boneyard housed some 5200 planes in its inventory, including over 400 cargo planes, 500 helicopters, 500 trainers, 1000 ground attack jets and 2000 fighter jets. The items ranged from planes built in the 1950s to those like the F-16s made in the early 1990s.

Military planners say the planes in the Boneyard are mostly obsolete and it primarily serves as a store of spare parts. But other arms experts contest this, arguing that many of the planes in the Boneyard are eminently serviceable, and some, like the Pakistani F-16s, are in relatively new condition. The obsolescence factor is also brought on by arms factories constantly upgrading the planes, sometimes without any particular need.

“There is a bigger air force out there in the desert than can be found any where else in the world. Yet the government is going ahead an spending billions on creating a new generation of planes like the F-22,” says Lora Lumpe, an arms sales expert with the Federation of American Scientists.

Lumpe also told The Indian Express that she could not recall a precedent for the kind of snafu between the United States and Pakistan over the F-16s.

What makes the fate of the Pakistani jets all the more uncertain is that the Boneyard already has nearly 400 F-16s on its roster, most of them in good condition. Since AMARC is run as a profit center, the administration is equally keen that these planes be sold too. Last year, the Boneyard chalked up sales of $ 800 million and returned 125 planes to service.

Nearly a dozen countries in the world outside Pakistan — Bahrain, Egypt, Greece, Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, Morocco, Philippines, Singapore and South Korea among others have F-16s in their air force. But none of them have shown any interest in the Pakistani F-16s despite prodding by the Clinton administration. Chile is the latest country to want F-16s — and the White House recently allowed Lockheed Martin to submit technical bids for F-16 sales but arms industry types say it will want new planes.

Philippines, another possibility, has hummed and hawed, while Pakistan’s allies like Saudi Arabia have shown no interest.

Experts say the problem with selling the Pakistani F-16s is that they have been made to order for Islamabad with specific munitions and avionics. In fact, they are even said to have PAF insignia and colours painted on them. “They are still excellent planes, but as the weeks and months go by they will become less and less attractive,” says Joel Johnson of the Aerospace Industries Association.

Johnson says planes that head for the Boneyard have four uses: they are kept for possible reuse; they are scavenged for spare parts; they are used as drones for target shooting; and finally, the most hopeless ones, are melted down for scrap metal.

While the Pak F-16s are still in the first category, experts say their market value is diminishing everyday, despite the excellent storage facilities available in Arizona. In fact, AMARC was located in Arizona because the dry desert climate allows for rust-free storage. “But no matter how well you lubricate them, vinyl them and mothball them, it is never the same,” said one arms expert.

Although the US keeps assuring Pakistan that the planes are being turned over regularly and kept in flying condition even as they look for buyers, an increasingly desperate and broke Pakistan is now threatening to go to court over the issue. What has put Islamabad in a funk is that its weak financial condition has stymied its efforts to procure other fighter planes like the Mirage even as India has inducted the Sukhoi-30 fighter planes into its air force.