Are the engine cowlings shaped like this to preserve the aerodynamical profile of the old aircraft? Presumably, yes. The RR selling pitch included claiming they would work within the existing pods/cowlings, but I am pretty sure new ones will be fabricated in any case as the existing ones are…appare...
Jump to postWow, thx Antaras. That Herc is looking rough. The C-119 looks pretty amazing.
Jump to postAny more updates on this program in the last few months? Any new photos? The first two will be done in San Antonio in 2026, then the work will I suppose move to Tinker AFB per the link. I would think the new pods would at least have some fabrication/photo’s released this year. https://www.defensene...
Jump to postI suppose KC-135’s wouldn’t technically count as airliners.
Jump to postAbsent a huge conflict I would be shocked if this program would get funded in the next 10 years. Really, the USAF is only finally doing the B-52 fleet because…they can’t sustain the 1950’s engines any longer; they have zero concern for efficiency/range etc. Pratt can sustain the C-17 engines though....
Jump to postJust throwing this out there. Assuming the situation in Ukraine is resolved soon, what about Antonov? Would be cool to see a full glass cockpit 124/226 in USAF colours.... :biggrin: Actually not the ‘craziest’ idea since the US wants to spend piles of money to rebuild Ukraine post-war (as in, think...
Jump to postMight come, don’t know their condition but military plane aren’t typically designed for long life. A-10 has had several wing mods. The A-10 is a weird exception though, as it is both a ‘tactical’ platform (wearing out the high G bits especially around the wings quickly) and also a political hot pot...
Jump to postWar zone bases are nearly always austere. Instead of new build C-17. If we still have all the little spare parts it makes sense to just refurbishment then with a new wingbox. It would probably be quite cheap providing the scope of the program is kept in check. The C-17 could even get a similar proc...
Jump to post“Americanizing” the C-2 seems much more far fetched. The Kawasaki C-2 is in production. The tooling exists. The supplier network exists. Kawasaki heavy industries makes fuselage sections for the 787. I would say that the 787 has 20% Japanese parts content and is assembled in the USA. The C-2 I woul...
Jump to postWhile past mistakes might not be easily mitigated with tooling destruction etc., Tooling nothing, I bet they would have to spend a ton of money to convert all the original C-17 CAD dataset to something usable in their current CATIA system because all the engineers familiar with the old system are l...
Jump to postThe truth is a figure could be placed on building a new production line. That figure, whether it is 1 billion or 4 billion, would be a fraction of what a new program would cost. Point of reference: KC-46. Even that ‘simple derivative’ took 30+ years to get into service ultimately for a plane that al...
Jump to postI am starting to think Boeing might not be a particularly well run company at the moment.
Jump to postRemember the C-17 FAL has been torn down. The engines are part of the high lift system, so any engine change involves a wing design change. Sure, yet Boeing also has a $24 billion sustainment contract through just September of this year (I assume another award is likely in short order if we ever ge...
Jump to postYes I know it would be very costly but really there is nothing to stop Boeing from at some point building a new production line for the C-17 and offering that. An updated variant with perhaps new engines would absolutely sell, and the capabilities to be gained from a clean sheet vs. a derivative des...
Jump to postThe only problem with tilt rotors is that the only example on service is a disaster. Which from an admin perspective makes betting on the next on not being a disaster is a dumb bet. I wouldn't necessarily say it's a disaster. Rather, that it's a heavy compromise. It's an airplane that can hover, an...
Jump to postI think the biggest difference is that the armed ‘escort’ or attack variants are very likely to be unmanned, so you would have a High speed AI powered tiltrotor escorting and doing the dangerous/nasty work of clearing out other drones/attacking manpads etc. while the transport is connected (maybe wi...
Jump to postI think the evolution of HSVTOL and drones will ultimately happen to provide much greater CAS/escort/scout/attack helicopter type solutions over the next 10 years. https://defence-blog.com/bell-tests-game-changing-hsvtol-technology/ I did get the T408/T901 confused. Jay I think I read they are conti...
Jump to postI think FARA will get cancelled. The US Army has a history of being undecided when it comes to this size of helicopter. The cheap, small, single engine Bell OH-58 Kiowa was the Advanced Scout Helicopter. The larger and more advanced RAH-66 Comanche failed to replace it as it was an high end attack ...
Jump to postYes to RMAZ’s post above. Really, Bell has already shown notional models of the V-280 family members as an armed gunship and drones that could also be operated as escorts down the road (in their Crystal City show and tell house a few years ago). Get the V-280 into production and then worry about der...
Jump to postPeople seem to be forgetting that the YC-14 and YC-15 both had jets and were explicitly intended as Hercules replacements. And both appear to have performed well enough in all the testing that was done. Correct, and the YC-14 really looked almost like a turbofan powered C-130. It had its flaws. I c...
Jump to posthttps://twitter.com/NTSB_Newsroom/statu ... 6116831560
So…apparently not a wholly defective component/plug (wasn’t ripped apart)? Looks pretty intact. Cotter pins/castle nuts?
Heading to Singapore air show for its first foreign show and tell, after subsiding for EASA type certification. https://x.com/alert5/status/1744173251679674575 China Eastern has taken delivery of 3 so far; https://aviationweek.com/air-transport/china-eastern-airlines-8 China Eastern topped up with a...
Jump to postQuestion; could an unducted fan/open rotor not do reverse as a prop can, or even more easily since it could just change the blade angles? As such, couldn’t such an engine even be fitted to a C-130? I am curious if this might be fitted to a military transport such as the herc or C390 (to replace the ...
Jump to postThe Boeing (Aurora) proposal does look fascinating to me as a BWB alternative to the ‘tilt rotor’ I had expected from Bell etc. The competitors have very little time, with possible downselect (or further funding of all 4) coming up this May. https://www.flightglobal.com/fixed-wing/aurora-proposes-fa...
Jump to postHow many more KC-46 tankers do folks think the USAF will ‘want’ to procure in the late 2020’s?
Jump to postWe should not forget that the RR Trent 7000 is also a viable candidate. It is a bleed air engine with Trent TEN and Trent XWB tech incorporated. A fan diameter downgrade should see thrust reduced from 70K to 60K lbs. This is an interesting point. RR has seemingly gained a cargo market foothold alre...
Jump to postBut the most likely solution would be to do a "TrentTen". Keeping the same nacelle which eliminates 99% of the flight testing and certification process. The latest GenX 787 core gets used with a fan to suit the existing 767 nacelle. This would probably have change from a billion dollars. ...
Jump to postThe more likely path is probably something of a multi-role BWB type, imho, at the upper end, with a tanker and cargo variant. Eliminate the separate lower deck tank for refueling in a flying wing, make it stealthy-esque, and have a modular ability to switch even between cargo and refueling packages/...
Jump to postBTW, the article states EK still has 35 777-8 on order, so I'm not getting why the speculation is that the -8X order is canceled on A.net? It doesn't help that Boeing won't give clarity on 777X (and MAX) model breakdown, but there were lots of reports when Emirates trimmed their 777X order from 150...
Jump to postNo. First the 778F is slightly longer than the previously announced specs of the 778, and second there is no rule that says a Freighter variant has to have an equivalent passenger variant. There is no pax A350 the same size as the A350F for example. Correct, and insanely apparently Boeing didn’t ev...
Jump to postWouldn't the 777-8 be needed for the 777-8F anyway? No. First the 778F is slightly longer than the previously announced specs of the 778, and second there is no rule that says a Freighter variant has to have an equivalent passenger variant. There is no pax A350 the same size as the A350F for exampl...
Jump to postIf Lockheed is eliminated from the competition to provide a tilt-rotor type of successor aircraft, then I can bet we will see some updated sketches and optimistic price estimates as to a follow on Hercules model. Back when they were concerned about the A400M, the C-130XL was considered. https://www....
Jump to postI can’t see Airbus doing much more in widebody market share. The A35K is a sales dud, A359 they sell quite a few of, and the A330NEO is at this point just teetering on being worth keeping in production. So, it’s essentially a single model of a single product with a single engine, the A359 that Airbu...
Jump to postRandom thought, but how unrealistic would an ARJ-21 American certification be? Hadn’t a stretched variant (-900) been considered? Long live the T-tails?? https://twitter.com/cjxwh_hbtv/status/1604730815132618752 I vaguely recall there being rumors of this as a target for Comac many years ago, and th...
Jump to postWould an E1 Embraer product make some sense, one of the older models still in production somehow I think, without a GTF?
Jump to postIf the Max10 winds up working ‘well’ then I would expect very few comparative copies of the 9 to be produced, once they are both in serial production/service. There will be some notable exceptions like Riyadh/Alaska but most airline operations can handle the poor field performance for the extra 11 o...
Jump to postThis is exactly the problem, Boeing can't find 15-20% gains without resorting to technology that Airbus could simply apply their current aircraft and get similar useful results out of. The 737 has done almost exactly this. Fred THIS!!!!! The same game Boeing did with the 737 for decades, Airbus cou...
Jump to postWow, not really a surprise, but some interesting timelines to compare. 66 years of 737 production vs. the 66 years from wright flyer to landing on the moon.
https://twitter.com/jonostrower/status/ ... 7378760706
What makes no sense is why Airbus would throw money at the A220 as a new derivative when…costs with Raytheon for other systems are a huge part of the reason the program has such a high cost basis relative to the A320 which…seems to do just fine against the 737 as-is without needing further investmen...
Jump to postAre there any updates on this one? As well, might the T901 (which is now facing a 2 year delay) also be offered in S-70’s (or even any Airbus/AW products?). I know it is slated to go into Chinooks/Blackhawks/Apache’s/FARA on the US side, curious if the Brits have any interest/plans. Likely I would g...
Jump to postI have seen no analyses supporting likely private operators taking them. Sad, as they really are a great capability, but with the DC-10/MD-11 series functionally retired on the civilian market, I guess the trained crews/spares required to operate a small fleet efficiently as a contractor will also b...
Jump to postExcellent post, Totallyaverage. Thx. The issue with the navy prospectively is that they/USMC want a collective I think as with the V-22 whereas the Army did not. A totally new flight control interface/software package will be pricey if they stick with that. More than likely, they’ll come out with a ...
Jump to postI posted on another forum about Embraer KC-390 on several NATO countries choosing this plane as their C-130 replacement (Portugal, The Netherlands, Hungary) along with probably Sweden and Austria. Would that build up enough momentum and sort of shortcut this European FMTC project ? docmtl It’s not ...
Jump to postHey guys, Any ideas on the official designation for the V-280 moving forward? Will it have a ‘V’ designation like the V-22 Osprey or an ‘H’ designation like the UH-64 Black Hawk? And what about its name? Will it keep ‘Valor’? Finally… who do you think will be the first export customer? Take care Bu...
Jump to postIt’s an interesting procurement decision/announcement that I’ve seen so far, not a lot of competition I guess for what they specifically are looking to get. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/2023/04/03/northrop-lockheed-raytheon-team-up-on-navys-e-xx-doomsday-plane/ https://seapowerma...
Jump to postYou may be right, Avatar2go but if so that implies the selection process/criteria was very poor, then. Why was the engine spec’d to such standards if it can’t then be transitioned to production? I am reminded that Honeywell/Pratt protested the award as they had the much lower risk design (per their ...
Jump to postThey just can’t afford to replace all of those blackhawks, 1:1 or otherwise, over 10 years or so, and Lockheed is gonna be very motivated to throw the T901’s to keep selling them both to the US Army and others, I expect. The more you look the more confusing it appears. Money is clearly not an issue...
Jump to postThe H-145 seems a very practical/affordable/reliable domestic platform for the Germans to procure, relatively quickly.
Jump to postIt is interesting, for its size Qantas gets more words typed about it on the internet than any other airline. I assume some of this is just my own bias as an english-speaking anglosphere resident myself reading an aviation website, but it’s a relatively small airline vs. the number of strong opinion...
Jump to postThe solution to scope clauses long term will be one man and then unmanned smaller civil aircraft on routes that might have made sense for a 50-75 seater a few years ago. The $$$ savings will be there vs. $200K for 2ea. Pilots, and 3 flight attendants. Reliable Robotics is just a first step, then a p...
Jump to post