Nineties-era Humvees can be had for $7,000. Dump trucks and tractors that once
trudged through warzones start at $15,000. And construction cranes that helped
build military outposts bear price tags from $20,000 to $23,000. Most are in
good working order and many of the trucks have surprisingly low
mileage.
These are some of the 1,300 pieces of surplus military hardware
that will be up for auction September
7. “Every Wednesday we sell 350 to 400 items,” says Jeffrey L. Holmes,
senior vice president of government solutions and auction management at
GovPlanet.
GovPlanet, based in Pleasanton, California, is the
government-focused arm of used-equipment marketplace IronPlanet. The company won
a six-year contract from the Defense Logistics Agency to help offload surplus
inventory that has accumulated over decades.
Holmes, a former Army
officer and long-time defense industry executive, is insistent that the military
should sell off aging forklifts, cranes, trucks and trailers sooner, rather than
later.
Iron mountains of surplus inventory sit all over the United
States. If it’s not needed by the military, why not sell it? “They bought a lot,
and not all the equipment got used as often as they had anticipated,” Holmes
tells National Defense. “This isn’t junk. There is some junk, but some good
value. And every piece of equipment comes with a full inspection report.”
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