Any word on what type of damage there is to the airplane? Is it repairable or is it a W/O?
Jump to postN121TG was built in 1956. Former USAF tail number 56-0511.
https://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquir ... mberResult
How many European air forces operate F-18s and C-17s? :lol: :lol: :lol: And how often these air forces do on air refueling? I suspect you won't even get a light buzz from the beers that would be warranted from these operational needs for K-46s refueling them. The UK has the C-17, E-3D, RC-135W, and...
Jump to postReading the whole article, my understanding is that before July 9th the KC-46 had been certified for testing or exercises, but not operational use. But now it is certified for day-to-day refueling operation and can do some planes such as F-18 that use a drogue, and three large planes that use a boo...
Jump to postThe inner tube of the KC-135 Boom is 4.1" in diameter. It gets as wide as 6" at the ball socket just before the nozzle.
Jump to postIf it did happen, NAVAIDS damaged at HKIA, it would have been on orders from the White House. Then again, HKIA was not known for maintaining their NAVAIDS, runways, taxiways, or ramps. If US Forces did do it, they would have completely destroyed the equipment, not merely damage it so it could be rep...
Jump to postMax Q wrote:Is the C27J still in production ?
Great circle to the EU and ME would take east coast military flyers over Portsmouth (Pease), NE along the Maine coast, over Gander NL and out over the big pond. These C-130s were not doing that, they were on some type of training mission. Did you notice what types of C-130s these were? Trash haulers...
Jump to postMy choice would be the A-1E/H Sky Raider and the A-7D SLUF (the "E" was good too, but it came along later). The F-100D/F was also very good at CAS. The A-4 is an honorable mention. The AH-1 never had enough ammo, but the "in country converted" UH-1 gunships (up to four M-2 .50 ca...
Jump to postThe B-21 will not be bombing from FL-400. It will be down to around FL-200, and maybe as low as 15,000', just as the B-2s were during their 'shock and aw' missions over Bagdad. Eventually it will be a low level bomber, just like the B-1 and B-52 are and the FB-111 was.
Jump to postTotal cost overruns are now in excess of $5 billion. Unfortunately, we will never know how Airbus would have delivered on the 330. Perhaps better. But I have always maintained that it was too big. Imho, the USAF needed a relatively larger number of smaller airframes due to the tanking requirements ...
Jump to postKitplane 01 wrote: "4- Stealth is very important. Any stealthy airplane can beat in beyond-visual-range combat any non-stealthy airplanes. Between an F-35 and any of F-15, Su-35, Eurofighter, etc. the F-35 wins." No, any good F-15, F-16, Eurofighter, Rafale, or FA-18E/F pilot would fire on...
Jump to postI live about 2 miles from the Fort Worth LM plant where the F-35 is made. I can tell you the F-135 engine is the loudest engine in the US Military inventory right now. With AB or without AB, it is very loud. It doesn't matter if it is an F-35A, F-35B. or F-35C, they are all very loud. If they are pu...
Jump to postblacksoviet wrote:Will Boeing or the NTSB send one of their investigators?
Last I heard there were 50 survivors and 31 fatalities.
Jump to postUnless Airbus would propose the A-330F in an MRTT form I don't think the USAF would be interested. The A-330MRTT in its current form is a pax airplane that doubles as a tanker. The USAF would want a main deck cargo door, a real freighter main deck cargo floor, and almost no windows.
Jump to postSeems pretty close to the coast, any idea of the water depth around there? I'm so happy they're alright. I'm an oceanographer - I think it's around 25 - 35 m in that area. So glad the pilots were rescued! In 2002 the IJN 2 man submarine that was sunk just 3-4 miles from Pearl Harbor by the USS Ward...
Jump to postDoes anyone have the entire list?
Jump to postWill Turkey be returning the KC-135s to the US, like the RSAF did?
Jump to postIf there is going to be a sister aircraft to the KC-46A, they will most likely be new build: RC-46s to replace the RC-135s. EC-46s to replace the USN E-6s. E-46s to replace the E-3AWACSs. There may even be 18-26 TC-46 dedicated trainers for all variants of the KC-46. A TC-46 can have the duel role o...
Jump to postThe British are doing what they do best, slashing their own military forces. Along with retiring the C-130J/J-30s, they also cut the E-7A Wedgetail from 5 aircraft to just 3, the E-3Ds will be all gone by the end of this year. Just 60 years ago the UK had a very powerful military. Then they slashed ...
Jump to postB-737BBJ. There are some used models available for sale. Or the RAF could order a new build from Boeing. Since the RAF is ordering the P-8 MRA1, they could order an extra one as a B-737BBJ-2. The RAF has 5 E-7 AEW1 on order. Two will be rebuilt used aircraft, the remaining 3 will be new builds from ...
Jump to postIf NASA wanted a B-747-LCF, the FAA would not stand in the way. A much cheaper alternative would be a retired USAF C-5A/B from the Boneyard. NASA could have as many as they want, but I don't think they would need more than 3 or 4. These C-5A/Bs could be brought up to the C-5AMP and C-5M configuratio...
Jump to postI recall that there was a USAF jet that hit a cable car cable and killed a bunch of the cable car's passengers but that was quite a while ago. Per the article, the French already hit power lines in 2012 and 2014 with a Mirage 2000 and a Rafale, respectively. Both managed to land safely. It appears ...
Jump to postMortyman wrote:The Airbus 330 Mrtt is not only a tanker but also a cargo and troop transport.
For the A300, (a) it's a short haul aircraft, I doubt that it would've offered much improvement over the KC-135, let alone the KC-10 or L1011. (b) Airbus at the time was a strictly civilian manufacturer. EADS (now Airbus Group) didn't form until the year 2000. Of course the individual companies, e....
Jump to postThe USAF has never has any kind of organization when it comes to retirements. Usually retirements come along when a jet hits a critical maintenance requirement like a C/D check. Congress has slowed down the KC-10 retirements due to the KC-46 issues still plaguing the fleet. Originally 16 were suppo...
Jump to posthttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technolo ... d=msedgdhp
Jump to postHappy New Year! FIrst post ever for me. Anyone have the delivery information on these tankers? I'm talking about the paperwork transfer date, that you USED to be able to see on the BOE website. I know the "delivery date" for the P-8A Poseidon is the date of first flight, but I can't find ...
Jump to postSupersonic tanking is...quite a novel idea. Paging KC135TopBoom... https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/37793/all-the-crazy-proposed-variants-of-the-b-70-valkyrie-super-bomber https://www.thedrive.com/content-b/message-editor%2F1606173869419-b-70variants-15.jpg?quality=60 The document covers a num...
Jump to postMy goal would be to get as much capability as possible for the budget. As few aircraft types as possible with no niche aircraft. Aircraft that can perform multiple roles or have good flexibility has an advantage. I would evenly space the aircraft so the cabaility gap between them is large but manag...
Jump to postI guess the Dutch won't set up their own infrastructure for A400M's, at least not for a few. So they might operate in Melsbroek under EATC. Melsbroek which is not so far from Eindhoven (125km). 55nm is a long way when you need major maintenance such as an unscheduled engine change or repair sever d...
Jump to postThe Mig-17/-19/-21s never achieved parity with the US Navy or the USAF. The bombers (F-4s, F-105s, A-1s, A-4s, A-6s, and A-7s) did have trouble if the did not have escort fighters. But more US bombers were shot down by SAMs and AAA than by NVAF fighters. The USAF F-111s did not have a problem with V...
Jump to postOf the McHamera-era boondoggles, the C-5 was far from the worst. The F-111 story was arguably worse, cancelled Navy version, marginal FB version and three versions of okay fighter-bombers that only served in combat during a 40-day war at the end of their life. The C-5 still serves pretty well. Wake...
Jump to postActually, the E-7 may not fill the E-3 role for the US and NATO. It does not have enough room for a full Battle Staff. A better replacement is a version of the USAF KC-46 or JASDF E-767. Large enough to fill the E-3, E-8, and Battle Staff functions. Replace the PW-4062 engines with the same GEnx1B74...
Jump to postThe KC-135, CH-47, UH-1 (and all variants), B-52, FB-111, EC/RC/TC/WC-135, C/AC/EC/HC/MC/RC-130, CH/HH-3/-53, SR-71, U-2, P/EP-3, Tornado, Eurofighter, E-3, E-4.
Jump to postOne interesting fact about the two VC-25As is they are the only B-747s with lower deck cargo doors on both sides. The VC-25Bs will have this feature, too.
Jump to postBird strikes can happen to any airplane. The C-32 is no different.
Jump to postThe USAF F-35A fleet has the space for a probe available. So it would be very easy to convert their F-35A fleet to probe and drogue. I think tankers getting shot down is the achilles heel of the USAF and they know it. The MQ-25 or similar will definitely get purchased by the USAF along with a much ...
Jump to post2023 is three years from now. I doubt the USAF can wait until then for RVS 2.0. They need these tankers operational now if the want to really begin retiring the KC-135R/Ts in significant numbers. But those retirements will be slow in coming as the last KC-135 is currently scheduled to retire around ...
Jump to postWould the E-4 be the only case (other than engine OEM testbeds) of a 747 being re-engined? The E-4B has not been re-engined. All four frames were delivered with the CF6-50E2 (F103 in military parlance) and that is the engine they have currently. The first 2 E-4As were delivered with JT9Ds (F105 in ...
Jump to postAre the Iranian Air Force´s 747-100 tanker/cargo aircraft considered as KC-25s or are they just called KC-747s? The IIAF tankers are call KC-747s and KC-707s. Both are essentially 'off the shelf airplanes modified with the KC-135 Boom and fuel lines'. The IIAF KC-747s started life as TWA B-747-100s...
Jump to postIf Boeing re-engines the 767-400ER with the same GEnX-2B used on the 747-8 for domestic freighters, the same aircraft would make an excellent replacement for the KC-10. This would keep lots of commonality with the KC-46 and a the same pilot rating No, it wouldn’t. The initial offload capability isn...
Jump to postI got mine issued to me back in the 1980s. I still have it with my name tag, wings and rank. It also has a Strategic Air Command patch on it.
Jump to postIs a twin engine C-46/B-767 able to generate enough electrical power, even with GEnx engines? The power requirements for an E-4B is enormous. I can't see any twin engine jet being able to run such huge generators except for maybe a GE-90 equipped B-777 derivative. That is why I believe a B-747-8 is ...
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