[Prophet in the wilderness]

I wonder ? if they can build new tankers from the new BOEING 747 ADVANCED ( but still will be the 747 - 500 series in my book, this is ? if they even go ahead with making a new version of the 747 ) if they can get the operational cost down of operating the 747 , could it make a nice sized tanker for the US military ?

[steveegg]

I wonder ? if they can build new tankers from the new BOEING 747 ADVANCED ( but still will be the 747 - 500 series in my book, this is ? if they even go ahead with making a new version of the 747 ) if they can get the operational cost down of operating the 747 , could it make a nice sized tanker for the US military ?

Boeing's been pitching a tanker version of the 767 as a replacement for the aging fleet of KC-135s and KC-10s (converted DC-10s). Of course, our "friendly neighborhood watchdogs" in the Beltway don't exactly like that deal (officially because of the cost; more likely because having tankers allows the USAF to have global reach).