24 January 2020 / 21:35 UTC-07 Tango 06 (05 Bahman 1398/29 Jumada l-Ula 1441/01 Ding-Chou 4718)
U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Sarah Brice, 14JAN2020.
“The U.S. commitment to this partnership is stronger than ever, and I look forward to building upon it in the days ahead.”-Michael Raynor, U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia, during the June 2018 C-130E hand-over, he obviously didn’t realize the Ethiopians couldn’t handle the U.S. taxpayer funded ‘gift’
Poorly thought-out hand-over of donated C-130E, June 2018.
A year-and-a-half ago the U.S. government “donated” a C-130 Hercules to the struggling Ethiopian air force, and without much forethought, it turns out, as it was discovered that the Ethiopian military personnel lacked the knowledge to maintain or operate the transport.
USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Sarah Brice, 14JAN2020.
In January 2020, U.S. military officials realized the Ethiopians needed help with their U.S. taxpayer funded gift, so the U.S. Air Force’s 818th Mobility Support Advisory Squadron (MSAS) went in.
U.S. Air Force maintenance personnel check-out the landing gear on the donated C-130E. USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Sarah Brice, 14JAN2020.
Explainer video, 23JAN2020:
So far the old C-130E has completed taxi runs, hopefully will be flying soon.
Between 1998 and 2014, Ethiopia got two C-130Bs, and a C-130E. The above pic is of tail #1562 seen wasting away. The other B model and the E model are listed as active, which is hard to believe since Ethiopia had so much trouble maintaining the C-130E donated in June 2018.
In the cockpit, USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Sarah Brice, 14JAN2020.
In the cargo bay, USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Sarah Brice, 14JAN2020.
The intent of the donation of the C-130E was to help Ethiopia conduct ‘peacekeeping’ missions in Africa.
Taxpayer rip-offs: U.S. TAXPAYERS DELIVER MD-530F CAYUSE WARRIOR TO KENYA
BARE METAL: C-130 PAINT PREP, OR THE EMPEROR GETS SOME NEW CLOTHES