The U.S. government is on the hook to spend somewhere between $400 million and $900 million on planes for the Afghan air force, which may not be able to learn how to fly them.

A couple of years ago, the U.S. Air Force worked out a deal to buy at least 20 A-29 Super Tucano light attack and support planes from the Sierra Nevada Corporation for Afghanistan’s military to use.

The deal, costing $427 million for the first group of planes and possibly up to $900 million if more are bought, was derailed after another potential contractor, Beechcraft Corp., protested the contract and competition for it had to be reopened because of paperwork errors.

Eventually, the Air Force decided to go back to working with Sierra Nevada and its production partner, Embraer of Brazil. But by then the cost of the purchase had risen by $72 million, and the first planes won’t be delivered until at least April 2015 instead of the original target date of April 2014.

The problem with that is that the U.S. is scheduled to withdraw most military personnel from Afghanistan by the end of 2014. That means there might not be any American trainers in the country to show the Afghans how to fly the Super Tucanos.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

U.S. Acquisition Mistakes Put Afghan Air Force’s New Fleet At Risk (by Michael Hoffman, DoD Buzz)

USAF Determined on Super-Tucano for Afghanistan Even at Higher Cost (by Tamir Eshel, Defense Update)

Super Tucano Beats out AT-6 for Afghan Light Air Support Tender (by Dave Majumdar, Flight International)