No idea, i guess they were literally crumbling. The lack of replacement is weirder since the need to retire these was known years before, but you know how decaying states can be, for example Poland need helicopters for like 20 years but didn’t managed to sign any deal that would be even legal, or how we build a modern corvette which after 19 years of being in construction ended up as barely armed patrol boat.
No idea, i guess they were literally crumbling. The lack of replacement is weirder since the need to retire these was known years before, but you know how decaying states can be, for example Poland need helicopters for like 20 years but didn’t managed to sign any deal that would be even legal, or how we build a modern corvette which after 19 years of being in construction ended up as barely armed patrol boat.