Gatordev,
The amount of money that I have personally seen wasted on just 1 Rhino at the depot would have paid for enough boxes for half the fleet. Between that and the spend it or we won’t get as much next quarter mentality is the bigger problem. If we fixed half of that, there would be more than enough money to fit every Rhino with a box. However, not every Rhino needs one. The buy only needs to cover squadrons not deployed and even then each squadron would only need a max of 6. Just enough to cover up jets (which isn’t a whole lot these days). It’s an asset that can be swapped out to squadrons just like any other box.
I'm not here to defend misappropriations on the jet side. I think we're arguing for the same thing from different angles. Whatever the reason, right or wrong, there is only so much money. The other major ILS customer would be Romeo. Overall, the platform has been decently managed monetarily to date, but it doesn't have ILS either (yet).
Again, I totally agree being able to put the boxes in is a win for everyone (one caveat, the Romeo also has to have antennas installed externally, which is slightly more cost and logistically harder). But that doesn't change the fact that there's only so much money.
Also, without a 3710 change, you still have the same 200-.5 mins with an ILS as you do with the PAR.
No, it's much more than that, specifically because of 3710.
1) I would love to have that 200 1/2 that the PAR has, but since the PAR is down, I have 500/1 (or worse) from the TACAN. Does the ILS require maintenance? Sure, but the parts are easier to get and ILS availability at civilian fields is much more consistent.
2) That ILS allows me to use a field as an alternate. If all the alternate has is a PAR, and I'm planning on using the PAR at the primary, then now I need weather that can be significantly more than the actual conditions. "But how likely is that?" you ask? Routine when heading up to Norfolk from FL when the weather isn't great and the ship is getting underway.
With the airwing assets spread out, aircraft have to commute. Can we do it without ILS? Of course, we do it now. But what if we could be more efficient about it and potentially (or anecdotally according to you) be safer?