Posted on 09/14/2005 7:37:34 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Wednesday September 14, 7:30 PM
Chinese Air Force masters midair refueling
(Kyodo) _ A military newspaper said Wednesday the Chinese Air Force had mastered midair refueling, making China the fifth country in the world to accomplish the risky procedure. According to the People's Liberation Army Daily, after trials since the 1990s, three warplanes doing an exercise completed the procedure in mid-August. The paper calls midair refueling risky and difficult.
"Midair refueling is an important mark for balancing capabilities for aerial warfare," the paper said. "It's also an important symbol of a country's national defense strengths."
The paper offers a play-by-play description of the successful midair refueling exercise but does not give details such as where it took place or the number of people involved. Photos with the article show two fueling aircraft trailing meters behind the aircraft getting refueled.
France, Russia, Britain and the United States can also refuel planes in midair.
China has said over the past few years it would modernize the military to compensate for downsizing the number of soldiers. Disarmament over the past 20 years has reduced the number of troops from 4.24 million in 1985 to 2.3 million in 2003.
Aerial refueling, ping!
BIG Deal Tiger I think US or Israel probably beat the Chinese to it LOL!
Not a problem. This is a country with fighter planes that can be outmaneuvered by American prop-driven reconaissance planes.
Dang! I remember KC-97s refueling B-47s back in the Fifties!
Sheesesh!
Whoopidy doo. Great job China.
In other news, the United States announced today its capability to shoot Chinese tankers out of the sky before they even get a chance to extend their refueling booms.
PLAAF is stil flying largely MiG-19/21 models (the Shenyang J-6/7 copies) but have recently bought Su-27s from Russia (J-11). Including the J-8s and you've probably got around 800+ modern/semi-modern fighters.
Gettin' there but not yet a real threat to us.
Ha!
Well said, my friend!
I spent most of my Air Force career refueling. It can be demanding in bad weather conditions or at night but the US Air Force has been doing this for about 50 years.
Still, this capability is not to be dismissed lightly. Tanker sales by the US are restricted because the tanker is considered to be an offensive weapon. What's that, you say? Yes indeedy. An offensive weapon because it increases the range and capability of any aircraft that can use it. Still, a full up tanker fleet is hard to come by, maintain, and even more important, maintain currency on.
Our tankers are almost from the fifties too.
Chinese MOAB?
If piloted by deranged Jihadis.:)
We're doomed!
You remember it; that's where I learned to do it as a B-47 combat crew back-seater. It was alway: "whew, that was a bitch."
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