Holes in the Sky - Working with old bird ["If the tankers don't fly, nobody else does either"]

National Review ^ | September 15, 2003 | Jed Babbin

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

 

 Cool link by 68-69tonkingulfyachtclub!

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Their goal is to drive us out of Iraq before our work is done. They are mistaken, and they will fail. We will do what is necessary to win this victory in the war on terror. ~ Pres. Bush radio address, 9/13

Jeb Babbin putting the troops first, ping!

john_mccain@mccain.senate.gov

senator@warner.senate.gov

senator@levin.senate.gov

 

If you want on or off my pro-Coalition ping list, please Freepmail me. Warning: it is a high volume ping list on good days (most days are good days).

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Jeb=Jed, of course.

[SAMWolf]

Military budget cuts coming back to haunt us agian.

[Prof Engineer]

Aim High ping

[gridlock]

How about we just buy 10 a year for the indefinite future? When a better plane is available, buy 10 of them instead.

[blackie]

Put the troops first ~ Bump!

[Pro-Bush]

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Seems that about two years ago, the Air Force told Congress that the tanker fleet was just fine until the year 2040. Sambur told me that he wished his predecessor hadn't sent the report because it was simply wrong.

America's going to be cleaning up after the Clintons for a long time.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Amazing pic. Thanks, Pro-Bush!

[Poohbah]

Apparently, the previous SECAF made his statement in sincere ignorance.

[LibKill]

Can't do diddly without fuel. This problem needs fixin'.

[boomop1]

They old when I flew them in the 60s and 70s the KC-135A would eat over a mile of runway by the time we lifted off heavy weight.

[boomop1]

stick were in there after they

[El Gato]

They old when I flew them in the 60s and 70s the KC-135A would eat over a mile of runway by the time we lifted off heavy weight.

That's a little better with the -Es and much better with the -Rs. The main benefit of the -Es (which are just -As re-engined with JT3Ds (military designation is a TF33 varient) taken off of old 707 airliners, is decreased fuel burn, which translates into increased range and/or increased fuel offload. The -Rs are more extensively modified, but part of that was re-engining with CFM56 (military designation F108) which gives the same benefits as for the -Es, but much more so. They can also take off at higher weights and/or use less runway.

[Alamo-Girl]

Bump!

[PhilDragoo]

Deploy Tom Daschle from that boom and make him clean the windshield on that B-2 Spirit.

It was his wife Linda the Lobbyist who stuck it to everyone with the lease.

If John McCain and Carl Levin and John Warner weren't so busy hamming it up for the cameras they'd have time to fit the birds to the need.

The name not mentioned in the Babbin piece is the number one perp: Linda Daschle.

[Utah Girl]

Ping

[Mr. Silverback]

How about we just buy 10 a year for the indefinite future? When a better plane is available, buy 10 of them instead.

Ten a year is not only not anywhere near enough, it would also drive up the cost of the individual aircraft--Over the course of the purchases, the taxpayers would get all the pay of low-volume buys and none of the savings of buying and flying fewer jets.

[Mr. Silverback]

A few thoughts:
As an old tanker toad, I have to say I've been wondering for years when we were going to get a follow-on. We didn't buy enough KC-10s in the first place, and I've never been a big fan of that model, though some of the crews I've spoken with liked her fine. The KC-135 is a great bird (especially the R models, the CFM56 engine is just outstanding), but I am not at all suprised that there may be some major problems coming up. The one I crewed at Plattsburgh is now 40 years old, and it was one of the last ones made. I'm also not surprised that the E models are becoming hangar queens, I never worked them but I came away with the impression from old tanker heads that the E was little improvement over the original A model.

I was talking to an airline pilot one time and he commented that he still had nightmares about his days in SAC flying that "ground-loving pig," the KC-135. I'd like to say I said, "Well, when it's been 40 years since you started flying, we'll see how often you get into the air," but I didn't think of it until much later.

Even if it had been accurate, a report saying we were good to go until 2040 never should have left the Pentagon. There's no bloody reason on Earth to expect crews to fly 85 year-old jets just to save some money.

We need to replace these birds soon, by phasing in just as many replacement 767s or similar/next generation birds.

Buying a relatively few wide-bodies (instead of relatively many wide-bodies, narrow bodies or wide bodies with short fuselages) would be a grave error in my estimation. I have no doubt that if we replace 600 tankers with 600 tankers, it will be worth every penny, even if every one of them is a lease-to-own 767.

Global Reach is a necessity. Tankers make it happen. Call your congresscritters and get them on the stick. This one is super-important.