Boeing P-8A Poseidon

[Almansur]

Pretty neat bird!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/usnavy/6836386475/sizes/o/in/photostream/

[Butters]

Boeing. Fuck yea!

[JarheadBoom]

Looking forward to seeing them in the ARO window...

[TrainerModel]

guess they wanted a bigger P-3

[MKopack]

I spent several years working the P-3's at the Lockheed Martin depot a decade ago, even then the Orions were tired. Probably half of the aircraft that we brought in had major wing spar cracking, fore and aft, we were seeing more and more wing plank cracking around the nacelles, and it had gotten to the point where we could no longer remove all of the corrosion from the aircraft structure because guys were grinding straight through.

Great aircraft, fast and powerful (loved doing engine runs on them), but they've suffered from a lot of flying through the salt spray down on the deck over the water (MAD runs, etc.). It'll be interesting to see in the future how the "thin walled" P-8 / 737 fares flying in the same conditions.

[jazzdude]

Great aircraft, fast and powerful (loved doing engine runs on them), but they've suffered from a lot of flying through the salt spray down on the deck over the water (MAD runs, etc.). It'll be interesting to see in the future how the "thin walled" P-8 / 737 fares flying in the same conditions.

My understanding is with the advances in ASW tech that the P8 would be able to operate higher than the P3s did.

[Champ Kind]

My understanding is with the advances in ASW tech that the P8 would be able to operate higher than the P3s did.

Boring.

[Majestik Møøse]

Boring.

Used to be fun; now boring. This trend pretty much applies to every plane in the military.

[Butters]

Used to be fun; now boring. This trend pretty much applies to every plane in the military.

Not the C-17. We get to go off-roading now and again.

BTW: The Army now refers to any ditch as a C-17 arresting device.

[BQZip01]

Not the C-17. We get to go off-roading now and again.

BTW: The Army now refers to any ditch as a C-17 arresting device.

I suppose holes cut in runways are MC-130 arresting devices too?

[Clayton Bigsby]

My understanding is with the advances in ASW tech that the P8 would be able to operate higher than the P3s did.

Exactly. USN models of the P-8 won't even have a MAD; India's P-8I's do though.

[Bronco130]

Not the C-17. We get to go off-roading now and again.

Promptly followed by LZ closure due to rutting..

[pbar]

The AF ought to think about buying some P-8s. Strip off (sts) the ASW gear, hang some JDAMs, etc. on it, put a decent IMINT and SIGINT package in it (sts), and maybe some comm jamming equipment and you'd have a great airplane for the current unpleasantries in Afghanistan, the Philippines, etc.. Could hang out for hours providing the kinds of support needed at a fraction of the cost of B-1s or F-15Es (minus the strafing). Save those airframes for the big fight. Maybe you could have a couple of squadrons in AFSOC... For higher end scenarios maybe they could supplement ISR assets or be JSSAM/MALD trucks.

[hindsight2020]

The AF ought to think about buying some P-8s. Strip off (sts) the ASW gear, hang some JDAMs, etc. on it, put a decent IMINT and SIGINT package in it (sts), and maybe some comm jamming equipment and you'd have a great airplane for the current unpleasantries in Afghanistan, the Philippines, etc.. Could hang out for hours providing the kinds of support needed at a fraction of the cost of B-1s or F-15Es (minus the strafing). Save those airframes for the big fight. Maybe you could have a couple of squadrons in AFSOC... For higher end scenarios maybe they could supplement ISR assets or be JSSAM/MALD trucks.

Fvck, up the ante, bring in some seven-fives and cut a bomb bay on em, and you got yourself the EB-52 that never was. Standoff jammer: check. Bomb truck permissive environment boring circles in the sky sipping on fumes: check.

Knowing the mil-industrial complex though, touching up even a commercially based product would sprout up cost overruns in the civilian parasite contractor machine like weeds on a rainy Texas summer.

[Danny Noonin]

bring in some seven-fives and cut a bomb bay on em, and you got yourself the EB-52 that never was. Standoff jammer: check.

Not quite. What made the EB-52 such a badass was that it had 8 motors, therefore 8 generators and could generate a ridiculous 1.21 jigawatts of pure American-made trons. Believe it or not, 757s don't have a lot of spare power available for that kind of stuff.

[Prozac]

1.21 jigawatts of pure American-made trons.

Cross cockpit check at 88mph during takeoff roll?

[JarheadBoom]

Cross cockpit check at 88mph during takeoff roll?

Takeoff roll? Where we're going, we don't need a takeoff roll.

[Disco_Nav963]

Not quite. What made the EB-52 such a badass was that it had 8 motors, therefore 8 generators and could generate a ridiculous 1.21 jigawatts of pure American-made trons. Believe it or not, 757s don't have a lot of spare power available for that kind of stuff.

Always thought it was funny that the E-3 had 4 TF-33s and 8 generators, and was limited to 24 hour durations due to engine oil life... And the (non-E)B-52H has 8 TF-33s, only 4 generators, and has historically flown significantly longer than 24 hours, which is a principle I apply on the ground to the whole 3,000 miles/3 months myth.