US Military Suffers Staggering Losses in Year of Aerial Accidents

(NationRise.com) – According to a Breitbart February 13 report, three dozen service members have been killed in military aviation accidents in a year, representing a concerning trend at a time of increasing tensions between the US and its geopolitical foes. The media outlet said that one of the most concerning aspects of the situation is that a Pentagon council is focusing on motorcycle accidents instead of preventing military aviation mishaps.

Recent data from the US Safety Command showed there have been at least 15 non-combat aviation accidents that have killed 36 service members over the last 12 months. The data also revealed a massive spike in the accident rate of Class A flights per 100,000 flight hours for the Marine Corps and the US Navy between February 2023 and February 2024.

Breitbart stated that while the issue isn’t new to the Pentagon, what it is doing about it remains unclear. The conservative media outlet explained that the House of Representatives created the National Commission on Military Aviation Safety after numerous military aviation accidents between the years 2013 and 2018. In December 2020, the commission published its final report, which made some recommendations for the Pentagon to create the so-called Joint Safety Council (JSC).

According to some media outlets, while the Biden administration’s Pentagon established the JSC in August 2022, the council hasn’t been able to solve the problem and is paying more attention to motorcycle fatalities. Senior researcher for the Heritage Foundation, Jon Venable, said in a recent interview that the spike in military aviation accidents was “disconcerting.” He also stated that the leading cause behind the spike was insufficient flying hours.

Venable explained that when he was an Air Force F-16 fighter pilot, after graduating from the Air Force Fighter Weapons School, he used to fly six times per week. He stated that pilots only fly between one and two times every week now, which is concerning as pilots aren’t receiving the “basic training” time.