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<ul class="summary-list"><li>The US Air Force majorly overpaid for C-17 spare parts, including bathroom soap dispensers, per a Pentagon watchdog.</li><li>The dispensers were 80 times more expensive than the commercially available alternative.</li></ul>The US Air Force overpaid for spare parts for a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/see-inside-340-million-boeing-c17-globemaster-iii-military-jet-2022-1">C-17 military transport aircraft</a> manufactured by <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-19-billion-share-offering-boost-financials-liquidity-2024-10">Boeing</a>, according to a new watchdog report. In one example, an audit found, the service paid more than 80 times the regular commercial value for bathroom soap dispensers.The audit, which detailed cost issues with a variety of C-17 spare parts, blamed the overpayment on a lack of oversight by the Air Force.On Monday, the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General released information related to an audit on whether the Air Force purchased C-17 <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ongoing-f35-fighter-jet-problems-affect-whole-us-military-fleet-2023-1">spare parts</a> "at fair and reasonable prices." The audit was initiated in response to a DoD Hotline allegation.The audit found that the Air Force "overpaid nearly $1 million for a dozen different types of spare parts" on contracts, the office said, including bathroom soap dispensers "where the Air Force paid more than 80 times the commercially available cost of a 7,943-% markup."<div type="image" title="A US Air Force Airman guides a M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) truck as it drives out of a C-17 Globemaster III plane and onto tarmac." height="1940" width="3448" msid="114745677" hostid="261" sizebytes="525780"></div>Across the board, the office said the service failed to consistently <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-defense-military-budget-compared-federal-education-spending-2023-4">pay reasonable prices</a> for about 26% of spare parts reviewed, valued at $4.3 million.But the OIG was unable to effectively review over half of the total spare parts — estimated at more than $22 million in value — "because the Air Force did not maintain historical cost data, and the Defense Contract Management Agency Item Group was unable to obtain supplier quotes or identify commercially similar parts," the office said.The OIG attributed the overpayment problem to the Air Force's failure to sufficiently validate accurate data for contract negotiation, identify price increases while executing contracts, and review invoices to determine <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-air-force-spent-1280-on-coffee-cup-2018-10">fair and reasonable before paying</a>."We are reviewing the report, which appears to be based on an inapt comparison of the prices paid for parts that meet military specifications and designs versus basic commercial items that would not be qualified or approved for use on the C-17," Boeing spokeswoman Deborah VanNierop told Bloomberg, which first reported the overpayments identified by the OIG. "We will continue to work with the OIG and the US Air Force to provide a detailed written response to the report in the coming days," she said.<div type="image" title="A THAAD launcher next to an aircraft." height="5504" width="8256" msid="114745678" hostid="261" sizebytes="783294"></div>Per Inspector General Robert P. Storch, the Air Force's issues could have an impact on C-17 readiness."The Air Force needs to establish and implement more effective internal controls to help prevent overpaying for spare parts for the remainder of this contract, which continues through 2031," he said, adding that "significant overpayments for spare parts may reduce the number of spare parts that Boeing can purchase on the contract, potentially reducing C-17 readiness worldwide."The <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-army-sudden-show-force-to-russia-china-in-alaska-2024-9">C-17 Globemaster III</a> is a large versatile aircraft designed to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/see-inside-340-million-boeing-c17-globemaster-iii-military-jet-2022-1">transport troops and equipment across a variety of distances</a>. It's the Air Force's primary strategic lift aircraft. It has also become a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-c-17-globemaster-airforce-cargo-aircraft-evacuation-2021-9">central aircraft in evacuation and humanitarian efforts</a>, among other missions.

US Air Force wildly overpaid Boeing by almost 8,000% for C-17 aircraft bathroom soap dispensers, Pentagon watchdog finds

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Israel's weapon of choice in its attack on Iran was the air-launched ballistic missile.</li><li>These allowed Israel to strike Iran rapidly and with minimum risk to its own aircraft.</li></ul>Over 100 Israeli fighter jets <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-military-idf-targets-iran-retaliatory-strikes-missile-barrage-2024-10">attacked</a> 20 targets inside Iran, ranging from its top air defense systems to key missile manufacturing facilities, early on October 26. Their weapon of choice: Air-launched ballistic missiles.These allowed <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-fighter-jets-israel-air-war-gaza-2024-1">Israeli jets</a> to strike largely from beyond the reach of Iran's defenses and with fast flight paths, likely from neighboring Iraq, that complicated efforts to shoot them down."Based on open-source information and satellite imagery, it appears that Israel's use of air-launched ballistic missiles played a critical role in targeting and disabling Iran's air defense systems during the recent operation," Freddy Khoueiry, a global security analyst for the Middle East and North Africa at the risk intelligence company RANE, told Business Insider.Signs of Israel's strategy appeared shortly after the attack. Images on social media showed <a target="_blank" href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/iraq-complains-to-un-over-israels-use-of-its-airspace-to-strike-iran/">remnants of boosters</a> used by the Israelis that landed on Iraqi soil. Iranian officials initially claimed Tehran countered such missiles, saying they had <a target="_blank" href="https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/operation-days-repentance-impact-israels-strikes-iran">"very light warheads"</a> compared to Iranian <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/iran-attack-israel-ballistic-missiles-overhyped-2024-10">ground-launched ballistic missiles</a>, over 180 of which Iran fired at Israel in an enormous barrage on October 1.Analysts assessing the aftermath of the attack <a target="_blank" href="https://www.twz.com/news-features/israels-reprisal-strike-carefully-calculated-unclear-if-jets-ever-flew-over-iran">questioned</a> whether any of the Israeli jets, which included stealthy, fifth-generation F-35s, even entered Iranian airspace. Some targets were in the nearby Iranian border provinces of Khuzestan and Ilam, while the rest were in Tehran province, about 400 miles away.Before the attack, leaked US intelligence documents mentioned a hitherto unknown Israeli ALBM dubbed Golden Horizon and a long-range drone referred to as RA-01. Other known Israeli ALBMs, such as ROCKS, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-hit-iran-with-half-ton-rampage-supersonic-missile-report-2024-4">Rampage</a>, and Air LORA have ranges of approximately 175 miles, enough to reach targets across Iran's border but insufficient for striking Tehran without entering Iranian airspace. Israel's Blue Sparrow, on the other hand, has an estimated 1,250-mile range."Golden Horizon likely has the range for Israeli aircraft to hit Tehran without having to enter Iranian airspace, removing a lot of risk from the equation," Sebastien Roblin, a widely published military-aviation journalist, told BI."However, Israeli officials said some IDF aircraft entered Iranian airspace," Roblin said. "Penetrating flight may have helped with target acquisition and bomb damage assessment of certain point targets, or delivery of attacks requiring greater precision."It's likely that only <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-f-35-stealth-fighter-failed-mission-capable-goals-watchdog-2024-10">F-35 stealth fighters</a>, and possibly RA-01s, entered Iranian airspace while fourth-generation F-15s and F-16 jets kept their distance.The Rampage missile is 4.7 meters long, roughly 15 feet, meaning it cannot fit in the F-35's internal weapons bay. The Golden Horizon is likely a similar size, if not larger. Carrying such a weapon externally would reduce the F-35's crucial stealth capabilities. If any F-35s entered Iranian airspace, they likely used smaller weapons carried internally."By targeting Iran's best surface-to-air missiles — allegedly knocking out all of Iran's <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/iran-may-upgrade-its-air-defenses-after-israeli-missile-strike-2024-4">remaining S-300s</a> — the attacks have also paved the way for future strikes to operate closer at reduced risk," Roblin said.Federico Borsari, a defense expert at the Centre for European Policy Analysis, noted it's hard to provide a "conclusive breakdown of the ordnance" Israel used but believes the spent boosters evidence suggests ALBMs played a significant role."At the same time, Israeli sources declared that F-35s entered Iranian airspace, potentially to conduct accurate live battle damage assessment without necessarily delivering strikes," Borsari told BI. "Given that Israel destroyed or damaged key radar and air defense sites in Iran, its F-35s could operate in a less threatening environment."For over 30 years, some Israeli officials have advocated the creation of a missile corps, invariably arguing that Israel cannot wholly rely on the air force against enemy ballistic missiles. Then-Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman <a target="_blank" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/pauliddon/2024/01/09/former-israeli-defense-minister-who-predicted-hamas-massacre-warned-against-overreliance-on-air-force/">aptly summed up this view in 2018</a>, arguing Israel needed an "alternative to the air force" and couldn't "afford to put all our eggs into one basket, no matter how sophisticated that basket may be."The Israeli Air Force's use of various ALBMs suggests some middle ground was ultimately reached."Now it turns out that the IDF adopted the idea of a long-range missile system with conventional warheads — but instead of establishing a separate missile corps, it mounted these missiles on the attack aircraft that will serve as flying launchpads," <a target="_blank" href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/security-aviation/2024-10-23/ty-article/.premium/as-israel-readies-to-strike-iran-the-pentagon-spills-its-allys-secrets-in-real-time/00000192-b587-d40d-abb3-ff9772fd0000">noted a recent article</a> in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz."The air force vanquished all its critics and rivals and clearly maintained its primacy in the IDF."While Israel does have an arsenal of land-based Jericho intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs), these are reserved for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/iran-hezbollah-israel-hidden-nuclear-weapons-arsenal-2024-7">nuclear</a> strikes. Using ALBMs for conventional strikes also has some advantages.Israel designed its Sparrow missiles <a target="_blank" href="https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/israel/sparrow.htm">to simulate</a> Iraqi Scud and Iranian Shahab ground-launched missiles for testing its Arrow interceptor missiles, which successfully intercepted most of the incoming Iranian ballistic missiles fired at Israel on October 1.RANE's Khoueiry noted that while Israeli ALBM and Iranian short-range ballistic missiles may have similar ranges, the air-launch capabilities of the former "provide greater flexibility, faster deployment," and more advanced precision.Roblin pointed out that a missile launched from a fighter starts out with a "huge altitude and speed boost" compared with its ground-launched counterpart. The latter missile requires "a tremendous amount of the energy stored in its fuel lifting off the ground" while being slowed "by denser air particles" found at low altitudes."So, a missile of the same weight, motor, and fuel capacity can go further when air-launched," Roblin said. "ALBMs also can be released closer to target to reduce time-to-target and the reaction time available to defenses, and benefit from extended effective range courtesy of the carrying aircraft."

Strike on Iran shows Israeli Air Force's embrace of ballistic missiles 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>US Air Force demo pilots perform airshow stunts derived from real-world combat training.</li><li>Airshows offer a glimpse into fighter jet capabilities and their role in combat scenarios.</li></ul>From a spectator's view, airshows are all about spectacle — roaring high-speed passes, compact formation flying, and daring aerial aerobatics.But for Air Force demonstration pilots, these techniques aren't just crowd-pleasers. They are precise maneuvers derived from real-world combat training — practical fighting skills that could mean the difference between life and death on the battlefield.While a demo pilot's primary mission is to captivate airshow audiences, they also offer the spectators a glimpse into what their military aircraft are capable of in actual combat scenarios.Air Force Maj. Tyler "Slasher" Clark, a demo pilot on <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/air-force-thunderbird-pilots-f-16-airshow-performance-formations-2024-10">the Air Force's Thunderbird Demonstration squadron,</a> transitioned to <a target="_blank" rel="" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-show-the-power-of-the-f-16-fighter-jet-2024-1">the F-16 Fighting Falcon</a> from his work as an F-15C evaluator and instructor pilot while on active duty.As a demo pilot, the aim is still "the constant pursuit of perfection, max-performing a military aircraft, flying on the edge of the envelope, learning not only where it can go but where also you can go," Clark told Business Insider in an interview ahead of the Pacific Airshow in Huntington Beach, California. "In that other environment, it applies to the tactical arena to protect our nation's interests."<div type="image" title="F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft with the US Air Force Thunderbirds Air Demonstration Squadron fly in close formation." height="665" width="1000" msid="114796711" hostid="261" sizebytes="29536"></div>The Thunderbirds showcase fighter aviation at the controls of the Lockheed Martin F-16, a fourth-generation fighter capable of air-to-surface strikes for air support and air-defense suppression and air-to-air combat with enemy aircraft.As the world's most popular fighter jet, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/f-16-crash-shows-even-lower-risk-missions-dangerous-ukraine-2024-9">the F-16</a> is used around the world, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-f-16-pilots-had-to-dramatically-change-way-fly-2024-10">Ukraine being the jet's newest user</a>. Although the jet has been flying for 50 years, it has been <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-danish-f-16s-summer-russia-2024-2">consistently upgraded</a>, allowing it to continue to serve in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-air-force-wants-4-fighter-jets-for-future-wars-2021-11">important roles</a>, including homeland defense missions and combat in the global war on terrorism.During Thunderbird demo flights, eight pilots — six formation pilots and two solo pilots — put <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-show-the-power-of-the-f-16-fighter-jet-2024-1">the multirole fighter's capabilities on display</a> through a series of tight formations and shocking maneuvers.Air Force Maj. Jeffrey "Simmer" Downie, a solo pilot on the Thunderbirds, logged more than 1,600 flight hours, including nearly 400 combat hours serving in Afghanistan during Operations Freedom Sentinel and Resolute Support.Downie said that the display team exhibits <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ww-ii-air-force-expert-rates-dogfights-in-movies-2023-5">dogfighting skills</a> — close-range air-to-air combat skills — "to people that wouldn't normally get to see the military and experience that.""We get to demonstrate a little piece of what we do with these jets," Downie said. "So supersonic speeds, as we approach those during our sneak passes that scare everybody, they get a sense of what it's like to chase down the enemy, but there's also slow speed-handling for when you're fighting another aircraft.""We get to demonstrate that to people to see the different regimes of flight and really just what these aircraft are capable of," he said.<div type="image" title="A cloud of vapor trails behind an F-16 Fighting Falcon as the pilot performs the High Alpha Pass maneuver." height="666" width="1000" msid="114796715" hostid="261" sizebytes="12886"></div>One such maneuver, the High Alpha Pass, involves fighter jets approaching spectators at a steep angle, hitting speeds of about 130 mph — which Downie said is "extremely" slow for a jet — before pulling up, taking a sharp 90-degree roll, and speeding up to 280 mph to clear the crowd below.The stunt demonstrates the fighter's ability to maintain control at high angles of attack and low speeds, which offers a tactical advantage in combat when a pilot has to quickly change direction or speed to avoid enemy fire.Air Force Maj. Samuel "RaZZ" Larson, the commander of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/usaf-f22-raptor-fighter-jet-combat-airshows-2024-10">the F-22 Raptor Demonstration Team</a>, told Business Insider all of the maneuvers he performs during airshows are "just basic derivations from what we do really in dogfighting" and highlight the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fighter-jets-military-us-china-f22-j20-stealth-2024-5">specific capabilities of the Raptor</a>."It's the only fighter in the US arsenal that has thrust vectoring, and it's the most maneuverable fighter in the world," Larson said of the fifth-generation F-22 Raptor, a Lockheed Martin-manufactured stealth air superiority fighter. "We try to showcase what the F-22 can do that other fighters cannot do, and some of the moves that we use in basic fighter maneuvers or dogfighting, we showcase in the demo."The F-22 has conducted strikes in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/f22s-redeploy-to-middle-east-amid-russian-pilots-aggressive-flying-2023-7">Middle East conflicts</a>, and it has long served as a supersonic interceptor, regularly <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-f-22-raptors-response-unsafe-russian-pilots-middle-east-2023-6">countering Russian aircraft</a> near Alaska as part of operations with North American Aerospace Defense Command. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/f-22-first-air-to-air-kills-neither-against-jets-2023-2">Its first air-to-air kill</a>, however, was against a Chinese spy balloon over the continental US.<div type="image" title="The F-22 Raptor." height="2004" width="2550" msid="114796709" hostid="261" sizebytes="173308"></div>Air Force Capt. Nicholas "Laz" Le Tourneau, a safety observer on the F-22 demo team, explained that while there are some differences between <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/f-22-pilot-describes-going-up-against-f-35-aggressors-2021-8">combat and performance flying</a>, "nothing that we are doing here is outside of the purview of an F-22 pilot who is straight out of the combat Air Forces.""A lot of these maneuvers are actually being performed on a day-to-day basis up in the airspace when we're executing our missions," Le Tourneau told Business Insider, adding that "it's really a blessing that Raz gets to take that down to the show and allow the crowd to experience that firsthand."Though the tenure of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/air-force-a10-demo-team-commander-warthog-retirement-2024-10">fighter pilots on demo teams</a> only lasts a handful of years, Clark, the first Air National Guard pilot to join the Thunderbirds, said the pilots, maintainers, and operations crew foster a family-like dynamic.<div type="image" title="Air Force Thunderbirds" height="2832" width="4256" msid="114796805" hostid="261" sizebytes="167298"></div>"There were a lot of parallels and similarities that I also saw in the Air National Guard," Clark said. "You get to know each other really well, and sometimes, with those dynamics, you can really build some tight camaraderie and build that trust and go on to do and achieve really amazing things.""That's what attracted me to the Guard, and that's also really what attracted me to the Thunderbirds," he said.And the similarities between combat and demonstration flying come even before pilots <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-pilots-prepare-for-high-g-force-flights-2024-4">get into the cockpit</a>."A lot of the stuff that you've seen in combat is kind of the same for the airshow in terms of your preparation for that moment and repeating and knowing your steps, your processes, and how everything's going to work," Downie said, "so when things do go crazy in front of a crowd of 700,000 people, you know how to stay calm, cool, and collected as you do on a mission."

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