Strange little story in Britain, where the Telegraph reports that the UK military is selling its used AV-8B Harrier jump jets to the U.S. Marines for spare parts. After pumping $1.6 billion into the jets over the past decade, the Ministry of Defence reportedly got only $55 million for 40 of the aging warplanes. Not true, the MOD protests, saying that “Harrier aircraft will be disposed of through whatever means will get best value-for-money for the UK taxpayer while ensuring appropriate future use of the assets.” (Translation: the Marines need to pay more.) Somehow it’s wistful to watch the 19th Century superpower allegedly selling scrap to the 20th Century superpower.
