# Taliban Suicide Fighter Enter US Base, Destroy $160 Million Aircraft **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 17, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taliban-suicide-fighter-enter-us-base-destroy-160-million-aircraft/634981 "2012-09-17T16:17:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taliban-suicide-fighter-enter-us-base-destroy-160-million-aircraft/634981/1 "2012-09-17T16:17:24Z")
It seems we are doomed-the Taliban was able to mount an attack on the most secure base in the country. This base (joint US-British) was surrounded by a concrete wall, barbed wire, with sophisticated Infra Red and radar systems, intended to detect even the slightest incursion. Yet, 16 Taliban fighters managed to enter, kill two marines, and destroy 8 Harrier fighter jets ($160 million). It looks like we will bankrupt ourselves at this rate. Question: will the base commander get in trouble for this? And, who can you trust in Afghanistan (looks like an inside job). ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taliban-suicide-fighter-enter-us-base-destroy-160-million-aircraft/634981/2 "2012-09-17T17:01:41Z")
Link? We really need to get out of Afghanistan. When our people are getting lit up by the people we are training more than the “enemy,” it’s time to go home. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taliban-suicide-fighter-enter-us-base-destroy-160-million-aircraft/634981/3 "2012-09-17T17:14:42Z")
[Link.](http://www.examiner.com/article/attack-destroyed-six-marine-av-8b-harrier-jets-afghanistan) WSJ calling it biggest single day loss of US combat aircraft since Viet Nam War. Camp Bastion, allegedly another response to the insulting movie. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taliban-suicide-fighter-enter-us-base-destroy-160-million-aircraft/634981/4 "2012-09-17T17:27:49Z")
If it makes you feel any better, they’re scheduled to be replaced fairly soon anyway. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taliban-suicide-fighter-enter-us-base-destroy-160-million-aircraft/634981/5 "2012-09-17T21:41:56Z")
The loss of 8 Harriers will barely register as a footnote on the USAF’s budget, which is $162.520 **billion** this [financial year](http://www.saffm.hq.af.mil/budget/). The budgetted amount for combat aircraft procurement is $3,623 million for this financial year (see table 13 on page 18(paper number)/27 soft number) of this [enormous PDF](http://www.saffm.hq.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-120209-052.pdf). So the loss of the Harriers represents something like 3.3% of the budgetted acquisition of combat aircraft for this year, hardly a harbinger of impending bankruptcy. ---
**Author:** ![Simple\_Linctus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Simple\_Linctus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Linctus)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taliban-suicide-fighter-enter-us-base-destroy-160-million-aircraft/634981/6 "2012-09-17T21:44:27Z")
Nitpick: The fighters would be US marines ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taliban-suicide-fighter-enter-us-base-destroy-160-million-aircraft/634981/7 "2012-09-17T22:07:39Z")
Bugger, okay then, $120 million is a much more significant dent in the Marines 2012FY procurement budget of $2.652 billion, with $349 million allocated for combat vehicle procurement. (Figures from this also enormous [PDF](http://www.finance.hq.navy.mil/FMB/12pres/PMC_Book.pdf)). I’m still not seeing it as an impending cause of bankruptcy though. ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taliban-suicide-fighter-enter-us-base-destroy-160-million-aircraft/634981/8 "2012-09-17T22:41:40Z")
And it’s not like they got off scot-free. They all died in the attack. Kind of a deterrent to your average combatant. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taliban-suicide-fighter-enter-us-base-destroy-160-million-aircraft/634981/9 "2012-09-18T00:06:23Z")
If all they got was the planes I’d call it a fair tradeoff.