KC-46A Info

[viper154]

2 hours ago, bronxbomber252 said:

 

 

Brings up an interesting question.. if Aircraft I fires the missile, and aircraft B guides it, who gets the kill/green star?

 

 

The ole buddy lase debate. Everyone takes credit in my former neck of woods when this happens in air to ground strikes. I have 0 experience in air to air but I am assuming its a lot harder to get a missile to hit a jet than  to hit some asshole on a moped with a ak-47. 

[Sprkt69]

3 hours ago, jango220 said:

You know, that's an argument that I have heard for a long time and completely disagree with. A lot of people in the tanker community also believe that for some reason as well. The Bone and Buff hold a crap ton of gas (~265K and ~312K, respectively), even compared to the legacy tankers (~200K for the -135 and ~340K for the -10), in addition to their weapons loadout. A large aircraft with weapons doesn't equate to a leaky gas can and a lit fuse.

Edit: Adding weapons decreases fuel capacity, but still, each bomber holds a lot of gas

The P-8 has both hard points and a bomb bay, and is a great model for future weapons employment methods for large aircraft. It is absolutely do-able for a platform like the KC-46 (sorry, C-46...).

I can almost envision the <2G out relying on everything except kinetics to stay alive

[pawnman]

9 hours ago, matmacwc said:

You’d be a missle truck, akin to a UAV with your weapons being controlled from another platform but it could work.

Beats my current counter-air tactic of bravely running away as fast as I can.

[Danger41]

4 hours ago, viper154 said:

The ole buddy lase debate. Everyone takes credit in my former neck of woods when this happens in air to ground strikes. I have 0 experience in air to air but I am assuming its a lot harder to get a missile to hit a jet than  to hit some asshole on a moped with a ak-47. 

“It depends”. Unlike the Hellfire in that scenario, if that asshole on a moped accelerates or turns, it’s completely on the eyeball to keep the thing on the thing. If you shoot an AMRAAM at a jet that accelerates and/or turns, the missile will help itself out.

BL - It’s easier to fly a Raptor than to be an MQ-9 sensor operator (sarcasm).

[Majestik Møøse]

 

12 hours ago, Right Seat Driver said:

Not to mention the Marines are weaponizing their KC-130Js.

Air Force pilots aren’t Marine pilots. Marines have the rifleman-centric view bred into them. We’ve got a huge cultural divide between shooters and airlift/tankers in our service. There are a few gung-ho types in the MAF, but 10x more that are way more into good deals and airline prep. Which is absolutely fine, because there’s plenty of work to do for them right now without adding munitions into the mix. Hercs would be the only plausible option because other people have already paid to dev the hardware. 

[herkbier]

Disagree with your huge culture divide with respect to the herk community. Culture divide yes, huge no.

If you talked to your line herk pilots, 90% would be chomping at the bit to do more with the herk, especially regarding weapons or sensors. The issue is the risk adverse leadership above the squadron and group. Also, we have enough beans and missions as it is that it would be difficult to maintain proficiency in an even more diverse set of tasks. Slick J models do everything MCs do except air refueling, FARP and one or two airdrop varieties.

There’s a reason ac-130 crews don’t haul cargo and airdrop as well. They could dual qual ac/mc, but you’d have probably get a poor product.  

[DirkDiggler]

3 minutes ago, herkbier said:

There’s a reason ac-130 crews don’t haul cargo and airdrop as well. They could dual qual ac/mc, but you’d have probably get a poor product.  

AFSOC toyed with this concept in the initial phase of the MC-130W program (what ultimately began the AC-130W).  It reared it’s head again during the General Fiel era.  At the end of the day they discovered (surprise) that AFSOC crews were specialized for a reason.  The amount of METLs required and the flight hours needed to be proficient in said METLs meant no one could possibly maintain proficiency at both MC/AC mission sets.

[Champ Kind]

Slick J models do everything MCs do except air refueling, FARP and one or two airdrop varieties.

Don’t forget the HC rescue mission creep too.

[Homestar]

https://www.jqpublicblog.com/usaf-accepts-flawed-aircraft-a-week-after-acting-sec-def-former-boeing-executive-is-sworn-in/

30-year Boeing executive sworn in as new Secdef. 1 week later the AF “accepts” the KC-46 by using a coupon worth $28M per copy. Interesting. 

[Day Man]

Wow, JQP has really gone to shit.

[Homestar]

https://www.defensenews.com/breaking-news/2019/01/10/boeing-delivers-first-kc-46-but-fixes-to-technical-problems-still-years-away/?fbclid=IwAR2GXuojUmQifS5c53KZKjgLIKNomn4GDD6SVhuo45ZSyooiEmHgxhHYVQ8#.XDd0PG1GJGt.twitter

Here’s a more robust analysis. 😂

[pawnman]

40 minutes ago, Day Man said:

Wow, JQP has really gone to shit.

Well, Tony sold the company and doesn't write for the blog anymore.  Agree or disagree with his points, he was an excellent writer and always had a clear and direct point of view.

[Sua Sponte]

58 minutes ago, pawnman said:

Well, Tony sold the company and doesn't write for the blog anymore.  Agree or disagree with his points, he was an excellent writer and always had a clear and direct point of view.

Agreed. He graduated from Harvard Law. Agree or disagree, he made a concise point of view.

[arg]

On 1/9/2019 at 6:08 PM, DirkDiggler said:

AFSOC toyed with this concept in the initial phase of the MC-130W program (what ultimately began the AC-130W).  It reared it’s head again during the General Fiel era.  At the end of the day they discovered (surprise) that AFSOC crews were specialized for a reason.  The amount of METLs required and the flight hours needed to be proficient in said METLs meant no one could possibly maintain proficiency at both MC/AC mission sets.

That "dual role" thing was a carrot that was hung out in front of the MC-W guys to try and ease them into the fact that the airplane was going to be an AC-W. Like the fabled frog in a pot story.

[Day Man]

15 hours ago, pawnman said:

Well, Tony sold the company and doesn't write for the blog anymore.  Agree or disagree with his points, he was an excellent writer and always had a clear and direct point of view.

Yeah, that's what I was referring to...there's been a significant drop-off in quality since his departure.

[Clark Griswold]

First one accepted:

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/25896/usaf-finally-accepts-its-first-kc-46a-tanker-but-the-design-still-needs-years-worth-of-fixes

[ThreeHoler]

But not delivered


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[SuperWSO]

First jet is scheduled for rollout and presentation at McConnell this Friday.  

[YoungnDumb]

Is it also scheduled to go into the hangar for repairs/fixes/upgrades the same day?

[RegularJoe]

Can someone post a rollout photo when it happens?

[BadgerDave]

6 hours ago, RegularJoe said:

Can someone post a rollout photo when it happens?

There should be some photos in this thread as it gets updated.  Just don't ask the Sec AF for her photos; she'll be bumming them off the web just like the rest of us.

 

 

 

[FishBowl]

First delivery livestream. 

[Homestar]

Kept waiting for crazy Steve Ballmer to pop out from a secret door and start dancing. 

[ToHoldShort]

Just when you thought it would be a happy marriage between Boeing and the Air Force. Apparently leaving FOD in a jet is frowned upon. Who knew.....

https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKCN1QI58R

[Sua Sponte]

The camera system looks like a black and white version of a 7/11 security camera.