Aircraft Disposal Costs

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

AIRCRAFT LIFE CYCLE COSTS

In a report that attempts to account for the military's liability for
the future disposal of aircraft, the General Accounting Office recently
presented interesting data on the cost of hazardous waste removal from
several aircraft that make up a large fraction of the Defense Department
inventory. It looked at the cost of removing hazardous materials such as
fire suppressant, batteries, petroleum products, composites,
pyrotechnics, and coolants.

Aircraft Type (Service) Removal Cost per aircraft

F-16 (Air Force) $14,788
B-1B (Air Force) $123,084
F-14 (Navy) $14,725
F-18 (Navy) $10,753
Apache Helicopter (Army) $313

The relatively high cost of waste removal from the B-1 bomber reflects
its size and the size of its fuel system, but the biggest difference is
due to the "1,000 items associated with pyrotechnics that cost an
estimated $92,000 to remove." Removing pyrotechnics (for ejection seats
and canopies) from an F-16 costs about $1,700 per aircraft. Removing
explosive bolts from the Apache only costs $68 per chopper.

GAO says the costs of the actual disposal of aircraft hazardous
materials are minor: "For some mission assets, such as nuclear
submarines, the actual hazardous material disposal costs are
significant. However, unlike the removal costs, hazardous material
disposal costs for the five aircraft in our review appear not to be
significant because these materials are often reutilized, recycled,
consumed (as in the case of fuel), or sold."

Compared to the cost of procuring or operating and maintaining any of
these aircraft, even the removal costs appear to be relatively minor.

("Financial Management: DOD's Liability for Aircraft Disposal Can Be
Estimated," November, 1997, GAO/AIMD-98-9. Single copies of GAO reports
may be ordered at no cost by phoning 202/512-6000.)

Lenny Siegel
Director, SFSU CAREER/PRO (and Pacific Studies Center)
c/o PSC, 222B View St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/968-1126
lsiegel@cpeo.org