----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Actually there is a gigantic 'AXE' that is used to chop the a/c into pieces.
First the a/c is positioned out in the open so Soviet/Russian spysats can see them.
Then the a/c are chopped into pieces by the 'axe' & the pieces are left in the open for a while before they sent off to the salvage yards nearby.
I'm sure the 'carcasses' are pretty well stripped down before all this though.
It appears that the destruction of the airframe is what is important treaty-wise.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Wed, 4/20/16, Greg Chalik <mrg3105@gmail.com> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [TML] Off-topic but incredible!
 To: "xxxxxx@simplelists.com" <xxxxxx@simplelists.com>
 Date: Wednesday, April 20, 2016, 10:02 PM

 Despite a
 common belief, the aircraft in storage at the AMARC are not
 "broken up", even those there as a result of the
 SALT II are not "broken up" either. All are
 disassembled to render them inoperable, or to use the
 military jargon, deweaponized. Although rendered not useful
 as designed, they are perfectly useful for scavanging parts
 off them, which is what the USAF techs have been doing for
 decades.

 This by the
 way brings me to a somewhat comical start of the latest Star
 Wars sequel I watched the other day.
 One of
 the main characters is shown scavanging a part off a crashed
 Imperial Stardestroyer ship, and the question I asked
 is...how the hell does a woman in early teens, with no
 apparent technical knowledge or supporting schematic
 documentation, locate a fist-size part in the body of a
 vessel several miles long? :-) And, the parts trader then,
 without so much as referencing a screen, tells her it is of
 minimal value! One assumes the trader's extraordinary
 knowledge of presumably classified Imperial Stardestoryer
 systems and sub-systems down to small components...and if he
 has THIS level of knowledge, why is he just a scavenged
 parts trader on Tatooine and not a senior design engineer
 with the Evil Empire? :-)

 It got worse
 from there :-)
 The film was
 underwhealming

 On 21 April 2016 at 07:42,
 Bruce  Johnson <xxxxxx@pharmacy.arizona.edu>
 wrote:

 > On Apr 20, 2016, at 1:37 PM, Greg Chalik <mrg3105@gmail.com>
 wrote:

 >

 > Some parts of aircraft experience more stress and wear
 than others of course, and its not like airframe components
 present manufacturing challenges. Greatest challenge was
 converting analog flight controls to digital. Most of the
 fleet was retired due to cost of that even if the airframes
 were still good. This was in the post-Vietnam budget cuts.
 Nothing to do with technology or capability.

 > Most of that fleet is still in the
 'graveyard'.

 > Greg

 Yeah, I live about 5 miles away from the AMARC
 Boneyard. There’s a lot of them there that were broken up
 per one or the other SALT treaties, <http://www.aerialarchives.com/stock/img/AHLB3543R.jpg> 
 but they have a lot more as parts stores.

 <http://www.frommers.com/system/media_items/attachments/000/853/411/s500/Chesley-Airplanes-Aerial.jpg?1397400763>

 You have to wonder if they went through the fleet and picked
 the most beat-up ones for the treaty…

 --

 Bruce Johnson

 University of Arizona

 College of Pharmacy

 Information Technology Group

 Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs

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