42 Helicopters Missing in Turkey Sparking Concerns of a Second Coup Attempt

[jakeXT]

Source: Sputnik News, CNN Turk

At least 42 helicopters have gone missing from Turkey's military inventory in the wake of the failed coup attempt on Friday evening causing concern that there may be another act to the attempted overthrow of Erdogan.

CNN Turk anchor Serdar Tuncer reports that at least 42 helicopters have gone missing from the Turkish military inventory and says concern is brewing that another coup effort may soon be underway.
"It is as though this rogue will try more things. Can they succeed? No! But will they try?" said the reporter.

Unrest continues in Turkey in the wake of Friday's failed coup attempt that left at least 265 dead and over 2000 people wounded, most of whom were civilians answering the call of President Erdogan to put down the coup attempt.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/news/20160717/1043162524/helicopters-turkey-coup-erdogan-weapons.html

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I don't know if this could be just a normal loss rate (corruption)

The Pentagon/police is losing stuff all the time.

Fusion has learned that 184 state and local police departments have been suspended from the Pentagon's "1033 program" for missing weapons or failure to comply with other guidelines. We uncovered a pattern of missing M14 and M16 assault rifles across the country, as well as instances of missing .45-caliber pistols, shotguns and 2 cases of missing Humvee vehicles.

When you start losing Humvees, it's a good sign you've got more equipment than you really need. Request forms make these items sound like dire necessities but the one thing most people do with stuff they really need is keep track of where it is. A number of agencies are apparently less than concerned about the whereabouts of their terrorist-fighting equipment, only realizing something's missing when they have to perform their yearly check-in with the government reps.

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140827/10480728341/law-enforcement-agencies-losing-military-weapons-vehicles-that-pentagon-has-been-handing-out.shtml

[Igel]

1. You want to have more equipment than you really need.

While interning on a military proving grounds the maintenance supervisor I carpooled with said he was going to be in deep shit. A base-wide inventory was ordered and he had to turn in the paperwork and submit to audits in the next week or so. He was missing tools--drills, hammers--and he knew he'd taken some home, others had, but that was a decade earlier. Had no clue if he could find them.

But, he said, the real problem was the equipment he had but wasn't supposed to. Easy to get rid of, you'd think. No, somebody had put a tank in their maintenance building years before. It's hard to get rid of an excess tank.

On the other hand, right now *all* US tanks are excess. In the event of war, we'd need a lot. Can't go to the Walmart website, put in an order for 2500 tanks, and pick them up that afternoon.

Yeah, it's easy to lose stuff. But you always want excess. Think if it like that hurricane survival kit I have in the garage. Don't need the cans of propane or camp stove, do I really need all that bottled water? No. But when I need it, it won't be excess.

[left-of-center2012]

2. Might be the coup plotters fleeing? n/t

[cstanleytech]

3. I think 42 allegedly missing helicopters is a bigger issue than some missing guns in comparison.

And I said allegedly because I wouldnt be surprised in the least if they were not lost but rather they somehow "accidentally" ended up in the hands of ISIS.

[uawchild]

5. "accidentally" ended up in the hands of ISIS.

oooo That's cutting. Well played!

I do doubt that ISIS has them, the original coup plotters probably just stashed them somewhere.

They will turn up by and by.

[cstanleytech]

7. Perhaps but you are correct the alleged coup plotters could

have stashed them somewhere or someone in the military (probably someone higher up) simply sold them illegally and made off with a ton of cash and its only now been uncovered.

[happyslug]

13. Helicopters are maintenance headaches..

Tanks are maintenance headaches, but not as bad as Helicopters and ISIS can not keep their tanks working (most ISIS equipment is wheel based trucks). The tanks ISIS have used in the past tended to be T-55s which the Israel, after capturing several T-55s in the 1967 Six day war, found the T-55 to be the easiest tank to maintain. The ear;y videos of ISIS using tanks are of T-55s and then only for a few weeks when they were on the offensive, I have NOT seen any in use since ISIS has been on the Defensive. This implies to me a lack of maintenance capacity for ISIS and if ISIS can NOT keep the T-55s in operation, how can they maintain Helicopters?

[DetlefK]

6. Rome is missing 400 public-traffic buses.

They got a new boss recently and he discovered that there are only 1500 buses in his department. Not 1900.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

8. I think 42 helicopters will soon show up on eBay.

Gently used, few bullet holes.

[rockfordfile]

9. 42 Helicopters

"It is as though this rogue will try more things. Can they succeed? No! But will they try?" said the reporter.

A reporter talks like that?

[Sunlei]

10. How about hidden GPS locators on these expensive things so you can't 'lose' them.

[RobinA]

11. How Do You Lose

42 helicopters? They can't just be driven away by any Joe.

[geek tragedy]

12. False story planted to justify further authoritarian measures. nt

[happyslug]

14. The key is where is the maintenance facilities for the Helicopters?

The general rule for Tanks is you have to put in two hours of maintenance for every hour of use (the tracks need to be greased constantly and even if properly maintain Tanks are know to throw tracks which the tank crew has to put back on the tank). Helicopters, do to their design, are even worse maintenance headaches. To compensate for the tendency of a Helicopter to turn the opposite way then you shift the controls a 180 Degree system has to be installed between the controls and the Blade, thus if you turn right, the helicopter turns right. Without that mechanism, when you turn right the Helicopter would turn left. To keep them flying, maintenance is important, without a decent ground crew, helicopter do not fly. The following is comment made by Harry Reasoner when he was in Vietnam, In 1977 the following Cartoon was was made using his observation:

[Taitertots]

15. I told them to stop leaving the keys under the sun visor

[Calista241]

16. If I was flying a helicopter as the coup failed

They LAST place I'd go is back to the military base I left from. I'd land that shit asap, disappear for a few hours and be like "holy shit, they took those helicopters?"

[Earth_First]

17. Right...

Show up for work in the morning baffled.