US Sells 16 C-27A Aircraft For $32,000 After Paying $500 Million For Them In 2012

The United States sold 16 G222/C-27A planes of the 20 planes originally bought from Alenia Aermacchi worth $500 million to the Afghan Air Forces for just $32,000 for scrap metal value.

According to reports, the military transport planes had been sitting at Kabul International Airport for years, before they were sent for scrap.

John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), wants to know why the money was wasted.

"I am concerned that the officials responsible for planning and executing the scrapping of the planes may not have considered other possible alternatives in order to salvage taxpayer dollars," Sopko said.

According to a SIGAR letter sent to US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, the program was ended in March 2013, “after sustained, serious performance, maintenance, and spare parts problems and the planes were grounded,” ABC reported.

By January 2013, according to Sopko, the aircraft were not airworthy and had only flown a total of 234 of the 4,500 hours required in nine months from January through September 2012. Spoko’s office also said that a further $200 million was needed to buy spare parts.

Major Bradlee Avots, a Pentagon spokesman, said that the 16 aircraft at Kabul International Airport had been destroyed “to minimize impact on drawdown of US Forces in Afghanistan,” and added that more information would be released after a review.

The US government is currently in the process of scaling down from its present military personnel in Afghanistan of around 26,000 to a force of just under 10,000, who will be staying in a mainly advisory role, according to RT.com

Avots also said that the US Department of Defense and the US Air Force were still deciding what to do with the four aircraft in Germany.