I’m friends with a lot of former co-workers who work in their resto hangar. It’ll be interesting to see how insurance pays out, considering the museum has big plans for new buildings. They not only need more room for AF1, but their office building is slated to be de-commissioned, and also wanted ne...
Jump to postI’m friends with a lot of former co-workers who work in their resto hangar. It’ll be interesting to see how insurance pays out, considering the museum has big plans for new buildings. They not only need more room for AF1, but their office building is slated to be de-commissioned, and also wanted new...
Jump to postMost recent videos show that the A-50 was brought down by friendly fire.
https://x.com/naforaccoon/status/176140 ... 25003?s=46
Leave it to the USAF to complicate the acquisition process.
https://www.airandspaceforces.com/cyber ... e-7-price/
With Russia now gaining the upper hand in the conflict, what are the odds they get their hands on a patriot battery, as they march westward? Seems all is lost for Ukraine.
Jump to postI’m all for a twin engine civilian cargo jet, considering a majority of C-17 flights are “flying around the flagpole”. AMC and TRANSCOM are not interested in being efficient, which has been discussed a lot on here.
Jump to posthttps://www.airguide.info/boeing-eliminated-from-us-air-forces-e-4b-nightwatch-doomsday-plane-competition/ This article suggests that "SNC has proposed a modified version of the Airbus A330-200, a twin-engine widebody aircraft with impressive range and passenger capacity" Interesting that...
Jump to postAnother article which leaves open the possibility of over ten airframes?! If it is indeed 747s, then they would need to go hard after maybe a whole civil carrier’s fleet.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/b ... ion-report
Looks like there’s only a couple hundred left, of the type the US is willing to give. Less than 600 of the bigger warhead type, which I doubt they’ll give due to the fact it can take out the Kerch bridge. https://x.com/noclador/status/1557299003661983747?s=46 It had better not be the case, with the ...
Jump to postSierra Nevada corps builds hangar at KDAY in hopes of winning contract to convert a four holer.
https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/ ... sday-plane
Looks like the first Su-27 to go on static display in North America will be in Ohio. This particular tail has an interesting history, with its roots in Ukraine. https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/su-27-that-mysteriously-vanished-after-private-sale-resurfaces?fbclid=IwAR2bRBMVrZqPxwXJ2278R0LRqjn3G...
Jump to postWill the tail that was used for initial testing be retired early like T-1 was for the C-17s? One of the early built ( LRIP #1) KC-46A's has been finally delivered. 19-46007 delivery flight KPAE- KWRI (McGuire AFB) at March 24th with callsign PUDGY13 to join the 305th Air Mobility Wing, see : https:/...
Jump to postIt could have been taken down by a ground based laser. Huh? Do we have any operational ground base laser system that can hit a target at that altitude? I mean the only one I am aware of are anti-drones systems that are still under development. The shoot down was simply communication by YouTube. Tru...
Jump to postAny news, now that the 747 line is done? How many frames are in storage?
Jump to postThe USAF doesn’t need transport aircraft at all really. It’s much cheaper for Transcom to contract out cargo to civilian airliners. Except CRAF freighters don’t have roll-on, roll-off capability as the C-5 and C-17 do. Try driving a tank, a Mark V boat, or multiple helicopters on a 747. Try airdrop...
Jump to postThe USAF doesn’t need transport aircraft at all really. It’s much cheaper for Transcom to contract out cargo to civilian airliners.
Jump to postI’ve said this before on other threads; as a taxpayer, I have no qualms with the US DoD reducing its footprint at its foreign bases. It would save a ton of money to hand over these bases to the host nations. If they want us to stay bad enough..let us stay “rent free”..I know Poland would do it.
Jump to postRussia may be using S-300s armed with thermobaric warheads.
https://twitter.com/TrentTelenko/status ... 9379386370
Interesting theory that Ukraine used a prop UAV at low altitude to attack Engels, not the Tu-141 that has been reported.
https://twitter.com/TrentTelenko/status ... 6328686593
A little off topic..but how far away is the technology for spy satellites to just watch a stealth plane in real time all the way to its target? Is it possible? Would it render them useless other than stand off weapons?
Jump to postThe BUFF has quick start canisters, but I think all are in their seats when they start the engines. In a big cloud of smoke all 8 start at same time. The KC-135A had the same thing, cartridges for EWO Alert starts. Normally we had carts in the two outboard engines, but depending on 'conditions' cou...
Jump to postChina knows they have to strike while the iron is hot..no pun intended. Hope that Taiwan can hold out without direct US involvement…because they won’t come to their aid directly if invaded. https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/china-xi-taiwan-invade-chipmaker-stocks-war-cabinet-kyle-bass-...
Jump to postThe above questions of the remaining AMARC stored -G's and -H's has been asked before, see replies 221 untill/incl 230 in this thread. See also : https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1B_Un_zzkhX5eifi94KHrajQaBmxqN0imaej1mmTEIZc/edit?fbclid=IwAR1gcjAln-W-kl59xMYNZYLSl0Fl5Z7QT1inFmUBy6vs0c_Io0Ne3dC...
Jump to postRussia has INCREASED their number of aircraft fighting in Ukraine.
https://bulgarianmilitary.com/2022/08/1 ... n-ukraine/
I just did a google earth tour around Davis Monthan. Maybe I’m blind but I didn’t see any G models, whole or chopped. Did see about a dozen H models. They’ve got the Gs and H models at opposite ends of each other. The H’s are at the extreme north west side of the field, (intact), with the Gs at the...
Jump to postHallelujah! Nothing chaps me more than when the USAF makes up MDS designations like the “B-21”, or “C-5Ms”. The B-52H will be redesignated the B-52J or possibly B-52K when it gets a new radar and new engines. https://theaviationgeekclub.com/the-b-52h-will-be-redesignated-the-b-52j-or-possibly-b-52k-...
Jump to postThat’s a big “if”. I don’t think the current administration would come to the direct aid of Taiwan if the CCP were to attack. It seems that some posters here forget that the wild card in this scenario is the reaction of Japan, S.Korea, Australia and Russia to an aggressive China who picks a fight wi...
Jump to postBoeing and USAF in talks to accelerate deliveries. I’m sure this has everything to do with Boeing’s bottom line.
https://www.airforcemag.com/boeing-read ... tail-2027/
The other project I'm interested in is the Route 539 over pass, that will really make Lakehurst one base with Fort Dix and McGuire. I'm of the thought that McGuire, Dix, and Lakehurst should've been closed in the 90s, but am heartened Guard and Reserve soldiers will no longer have to contend with i...
Jump to postIt will be interesting to see if Russia continues to use most of their fixed wing aircraft in the stand-off weapon only these next 6 months or so. With their victory over much of the Donbas secured, will they continue the land bridge to Moldova, and create one big pincer formation around Kiev?
Jump to postPease ANGB has painted a full American flag art on one of its KC-46’s tail.
https://www.facebook.com/10004481152798 ... 2tGdl/?d=n
https://www.flygirlpainters.com/
Lots of numbers, there’s some truth, some politics. Aug 1990, we were still converting to C-5, lots of beat up old A-models, about 50% termed MC. We were tasked with generating all available planes, by the next evening at 1am, I left with the last of 12 on the ramp. Peacetime v. wartime. I’m sure y...
Jump to postWas there any updates on whether the -8s skin are unable to have bare metal that is on the current VC-25s? Considering the lengths that all the airlines who have done 747 retro schemes (or even 737 retro schemes for that matter) have gone to in order to avoid bare metal finish, I'm expecting to be ...
Jump to postWas there any updates on whether the -8s skin are unable to have bare metal that is on the current VC-25s?
Jump to postAnother nice article somewhat implicates the USAF in dragging their feet on this program.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/2 ... e-00034686
[photoid][/photoid] Disappointing, but unsurprising, as this is a 10+ year program and inflation is…higher than it was in 2017. At some point, I hope they decide to also just replace the upper wing skin as part of this project, as I imagine that is really the limiting factor for airframe life now, a...
Jump to postAll of the TF-33 KC-135E models are gone. They started work on converting a few KC-135R’s to WC-135s.
https://www.realcleardefense.com/2020/0 ... 13211.html
The KC-46 has now done the longest endurance tanker flight, 24.2 hours. I'm sort of surprised that we didn't do 36 hour mission tests back in the hot parts of the cold war. What are the longest ferry flight lengths, and say B-52 flights. https://www.airforcemag.com/kc-46-sets-amc-endurance-record-w...
Jump to postArticle linked below, confirms that the USAF does not intend to incorporate a replacement of the C-32 & C-40s with the E-4s (which supports the previous articles of their intentions to buy a four holer). https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2022/05/10/does-america-need-its-doomsday-...
Jump to postToday German MOD Mrs Lambrecht stated in the Bundestag debate regarding the 100 Billion package that currently only 9 Tiger out of 51 are Operational. Source: I Listened to the debate. Well, that's not good... Personally, I feel that Ukraine will be using a majority of western military hardware soo...
Jump to postWith the talk of a 747-8 as a replacement, one has to wonder if the USAF planned for a hangar big enough to fit one. My guess is no.
https://www.afimsc.af.mil/News/Article- ... ffutt-afb/
With the appearance of Russian heavy bombers in the fight over eastern Ukraine, are they out of range for the E-3s that are flying right along the border on the western side? Nice pic in the link provided, of the tracks NATO surveillance aircraft have been flying.
https://i.redd.it/w2r20qdcp6u81.jpg
Of course General Atomics would say that Ukraine will be able to operate the MQ-9s in a short amount of time. It would however, be a game changer if they could strike Russia's logistic chain, that’s on the other side of the border. (I do fear that Russia is close to using tactical nukes very soon). ...
Jump to postIf Russia completely conquers the Ukraine, do they completely cease to exist, or would they look like the Warsaw Pact country’s air forces did during the Cold War?
Jump to postSounds like what most had thought, which is the USAF doesn't have much of an appetite for another airframe in their inventory. “We had a KC-X, Y, and Z” scheme, Kendall said. “As we look at our requirements further out, [they] start to look more like a modified KC-46 than they do a completely new de...
Jump to postIf the Ukrainians do indeed receive the switchblade drones, would they have enough range to strike the artillery pieces firing from across the border in Belarus and Russia? Short of using tactical nukes, if Russia is able to continually shell Ukraine's cities, eventually there won’t be anything left...
Jump to postAircraft has now been recovered.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/202 ... a-sea.html
[url]JP[/url] No, gas canister starting wasn’t on the BR engines. But, an 8-engine rotor bow start would certainly take the rush out of alert launches. One at a time, we’re talking 18 minutes. That’s something I never considered. Although there’s plenty of room in the 47 section for an APU, the cost...
Jump to postI'd put 80% of the flying/operating USAF into the ANG/AFRes, starting with the Missile Community. You wanna say why? If I remember right, a reserve fighter squad has something like 70% of the cost (so 30% savings) as a regular unit. Didn’t you just answer your own question? It cheaper, in peacetime...
Jump to postIsrael attempted to move ahead of the line in their deliveries. My question is, would it be possible for them to buy used KC-10s in the near term? https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/43506/israels-request-to-speed-delivery-of-kc-46-tankers-critical-in-striking-iran-denied?fbclid=IwAR29zf8br4b6-vl...
Jump to post