12 kliss nye C-27 Spartan rett i møllkuleposene

U.S. Air Force shelving brand new C-27J Spartan aircraft after spending millions

A dozen aircraft have been sent directly into storage at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Ariz. The aircraft - which can take off and land on rough runways - has been deemed a luxury the Pentagon can't afford.

The military has reportedly spent $567 million on 21 of the C-27J Spartans since 2007 - and the majority of them now sits in the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Ariz.

(The C-27J is an advanced derivative of Alenia Aeronautica's G.222)

The U.S. Air Force is putting brand new cargo planes directly into storage in an Arizona desert because it has no use for them - and is still expecting more, according to a report.

A dozen new C-27J Spartans have been sent to a storage facility at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Ariz., known as "the boneyard" and five that are still under construction will likely end up there as well, reported the Dayton Daily News.

"They are too near completion for a termination to be cost-effective," Air Force spokesman Darryl Mayer told the Ohio newspaper.

The military will try to think of other uses for the aircraft as they sit in the desert complex that holds other neglected military and NASA vehicles exceeding $35 billion in value, about 4,400 for flight and 13 for space, according to Fox News.

The C-27J Spartans can take off and land on rough runways, but the planes were deemed a luxury the Pentagon could no longer afford after budget cuts, according to Ethan Rosenkranz, a national security analyst for the Project on Government Oversight.

"When they start discarding these programs, it's wasteful," he told the Ohio newspaper.

The Italian aerospace company Alenia Aermacchi was initially contracted to build the plans for $2 billion but that figure has dwindled.

Since 2007, the military reportedly spent $567 million on 21 of the C-27J Spartans but only 16 have been delivered and the majority of those sit in the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, according to the Dayton Daily News.

In 2011, seven democratic senators from Ohio penned a letter appealing to the military to purchase up to 42 more C-27J Spartans, saying that doing otherwise would "weaken our national and homeland defense."

But they also reportedly knew that the mission would create 800 jobs at the Mansfield Air National Guard Base.

The boneyard is officially known as the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG).

"The C-27s are going into type 1000 storage, the most extensive aircraft preservation capability provided at AMARG," Air Force spokesperson Ann Stefanek told the New York Daily News.

Stefanek added that the good news for the American taxpayer is that other organizations, such as the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Coast Guard, have expressed interest in the planes.

The Air Force, she said, is awaiting orders from the Office of the Secretary of Defense concerning where to ship the aircraft when someone can use them.