Austrian Air Force can't afford its pilots

Austria is not renowned for its military capabilities, but found itself in a tragic situation. Austrian Air Force can only afford to pay 12 pilots for its 15 squadron of 15 Eurofighter jets.

In 2002, the Austrian government announced it will replace its fighter jets with the new Eurofighter Typhoon. The European design won the auction with the General Dynamics F-16 and the Swedish Saab JAS Gripen. Initially, there were 24 units ordered, but the number was shrunk to 18 and eventually to 15.

A few years ago, the Austrian Air Force had 18 qualified pilots to fly the Eurofighter, but for financial reasons the number was reduced to 12. The announcement was made by the Austrian Defence Ministry. Flying hours for the remaining 12 pilots had to be reduced, while the six pilots grounded were redeployed as flight simulator trainers.

Austria payed in excess of 1.7 billion euros to acquire the Eurofighters in a dead that is considered controversial even today. In 2008, the Austrian Government Oversight Office revealed that officials payed 114 million euros per each 15 Typhoon's Tranche 1 jets, instead of acquiring 18 Tranche 2 jets for the cost of 109 million euros each.