*I read that the cost per AMX was close to $36 million many years ago when this aircraft was selected. Both countries could have bought off the shelf aircraft for much less and got so much more for there money. This was a political aircraft production project from day one. Creating industry is a good thing don't get me wrong but what they were producing, the specs of the aircraft compared to the cost. Both sides should have went back to the drawing boards and came up with something better.
70 Italian air force fighter jets are grounded during safety inquiry
The Associated Press
Published: January 5, 2008
ROME: Authorities have grounded 70 Italian air force AMX fighter jets indefinitely for a safety investigation, the air force said Saturday.
The fighter jets are all based in Italy, air force spokesman Col. Amedeo Magnani said.
He was confirming a report in Rome daily Il Messaggero that Sardinian magistrates ordered the aircraft grounded because of numerous accidents since the jet was delivered in late 1989.
The AMX has had 12 accidents, causing a total of five deaths, since going into service, Magnani said. In one of the nonfatal accidents, the transparent canopy over the cockpit was detached from the rest of the plane, he said.
The grounding order grew out of an investigation by Sardinian prosecutors into the 2005 crash of an AMX in a field of artichokes on the island, the Italian news agency ANSA said. The pilot was not injured in that accident.
Full story
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/01/05/europe/EU-GEN-Italy-Fighter-Jets.php
70 Italian air force fighter jets are grounded during safety inquiry
The Associated Press
Published: January 5, 2008
ROME: Authorities have grounded 70 Italian air force AMX fighter jets indefinitely for a safety investigation, the air force said Saturday.
The fighter jets are all based in Italy, air force spokesman Col. Amedeo Magnani said.
He was confirming a report in Rome daily Il Messaggero that Sardinian magistrates ordered the aircraft grounded because of numerous accidents since the jet was delivered in late 1989.
The AMX has had 12 accidents, causing a total of five deaths, since going into service, Magnani said. In one of the nonfatal accidents, the transparent canopy over the cockpit was detached from the rest of the plane, he said.
The grounding order grew out of an investigation by Sardinian prosecutors into the 2005 crash of an AMX in a field of artichokes on the island, the Italian news agency ANSA said. The pilot was not injured in that accident.
Full story
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/01/05/europe/EU-GEN-Italy-Fighter-Jets.php