Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center
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The Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center (AMARC) is an aircraft storage and maintenance facility at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona. It is currently responsible for more than 4,400 aircraft, including 700 F-4s. A recent estimate put the sum of the original purchase prices of these aircraft at $27 billion. An Air Force Material Command unit, AMARC was originally meant solely for the storage of excess Department of Defense and Coast Guard aircraft. In recent years, however, the facility has been designated as the sole respository of out-of-service aircraft from all branches of the United States government.
AMARC was established shortly after World War II to house B-29 and C-47 aircraft. Davis-Monthan Air Force Base was chosen because of Tucson's low humidity, infrequent rainfall, and alkaline soil. The hard soil makes it possible to move aircraft around without having to pave the storage areas.
In accordance with the START I treaty, AMARC was tasked with eliminating 365 B-52 bombers. The progress of this task was to be verified by the Russians via satellite and first-person inspection at the AMARC facility. Initially, the B-52s were chopped into pieces with a 13,000-pound guillotine. Later on, the tool of choice became K-12 rescue saws. This more precise technique afforded AMARC with salvagable spare parts.
There are four categories of storage for planes at AMARC:
- Long Term - Aircraft are kept intact for future use
- Parts Reclamation - Aircraft are kept, picked apart and used for spare parts
- Flying Hold - Aircraft are kept intact for shorter stays than Long Term
- Excess of DoD needs - Aircraft are sold off whole or in parts
AMARC employs 550 people, almost all of whom are civilians. The facility covers 2600 acres and is adjacent to the base. The economics of AMARC are highly advantageous for the federal government. For every $1 spent operating the facility, $11 is saved/produced from harvesting spare parts and selling off inventory.
An aircraft going into storage undergoes the following treatments:
- All guns, ejection seat charges, classified or pilferable items are removed
- The fuel system is protected by draining it, refilling it with lightweight oil, and then draining it again. This leaves a protective oil film.
- Measures are taken to seal off the aircraft from dust and high temperatures. This is done using a variety of materials, ranging from a high tech vinyl plastic compound (spraylat) to simple garbage bags.
The center annually in-processes about 400 aircraft for storage and out-processes about the same number for return to the active service, either as remotely controlled drones or sold to friendly foreign governments. For instance, Turkey has purchased several Vietnam-era jets in recent years that had been kept at AMARC.
Bus tours are conducted on a regular basis from the nearby Pima Air & Space Museum.
The center was memorably featured in a scene from the 1992 experimental documentary film Baraka. The center was also featured at the end of Werner Herzog's 1997 documentary film Little Dieter Needs to Fly.
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