Posted on 03/25/2024 11:28:09 AM PDT by Red Badger
U.S. Air National Guard photo
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The US Air Force (USAF) is on track to certify the iconic Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk for aerial refueling on its latest tanker, the Boeing KC-46, by the end of March 2024.
Despite the F-117 fleet’s retirement from active service, the USAF is moving forward with plans to integrate it into the KC-46’s refueling capabilities.
Andrew Hunter, the USAF’s acquisition boss, disclosed the inclusion of the F-117 as a receiver for aerial refueling during a testimony to the House armed services projection forces subcommittee on March 12, 2024, as first reported by Aviation Week.
The F-117 Nighthawk, the first operational combat aircraft designed with stealth as its main characteristic, was retired in 2008. However, a select number of these aircraft have been retained for various purposes, including training exercises and the development of new air combat tactics. With less than 45 examples still in service, the USAF intends to maintain these assets, with maintenance contracts extending until 2034 to preserve their stealth characteristics.
KC-46 Pegasus certification continues
In addition to the F-117A Nighthawk, the KC-46A Pegasus must also obtain certification for performing in-flight refueling of the E-2D Hawkeye airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft and the upcoming B-21 Raider stealth strategic bomber.
The A-10 ground attack aircraft, which is set to retire in the next three to five years, has failed its certification test. This aircraft, along with several others in the USAF’s fleet, was unable to generate enough thrust to connect the boom’s nozzle to the aircraft’s receptacle. According to Hunter, the USAF still has enough Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers operational to service the A-10 until its retirement.
Finally, the new version of the KC-46’s Remote Vision System, RVS 2.0, was expected to launch in 2024 before being deferred to 2025, is likely to face another delay and launch in 2026 instead. In 2019, shortly after the tanker’s first delivery to the USAF, the RVS developed by Rockwell Collins was found to be unreliable in certain lighting conditions and exhibited motion discrepancies with real life.
Yeah, the Air Force bought a tanker that can’t service the A-10. They are doing everything possible to get rid of it.
Where is this myth coming from?
The A-10 ground attack aircraft, which is set to retire in the next three to five years, has failed its certification test. This aircraft, along with several others in the USAF’s fleet, was unable to generate enough thrust to connect the boom’s nozzle to the aircraft’s receptacle.
That's where the statement came from.
I flew S-3A/Bs in the 80’s and early 90’s. Powered by the same TF-34 engines as the A-10. If the tanker was at high altitude and moving a little fast, it could be difficult to get the plug to engage. The solution was to simply have the tanker slow down a little. It wasnt a difficult thing to fix.
Hey. Tubes are completely safe from EMP effects. The military still uses them for critical communications IIRC. As all the current fighters fall from the skies Russia will remain ascendent because they still have the YAKs and Stormoviks from WW2.
I always wanted a T-38... :/
“Despite the F-117 fleet’s retirement from active service...The A-10 ground attack aircraft, which is set to retire in the next three to five years.”
Take that Putin!!!! We’re retiring our Air Force just before starting World War 3 because WE ARE AMERICA and therefore WE ARE INVINCIBLE!
(hard to believe that we’ve been indirectly fighting Russia for the past 2 years and are damn close to fighting them directly - but Leftist policies to continue the DISARMING of the US continue, unabated, without even a peep from the Republicans...and people wonder why I don’t this bunch starting WW3)
“...just being held in reserve for future needs?”
The F117 was a good experiment and was an optional replacement for the A10 with a little more punch. But the next generation aircraft are truly superior in many other ways. The previous fourth-generation fighters emphasized maneuverability and close-range dogfighting, typical fifth-generation characteristics include:
Stealth, with munitions stored internally.
High maneuverability, which tends to include short-field capabilities.
Supercruise, i.e. prolonged supersonic cruise without the use of reheat.
Advanced avionics, including low-probability-of-intercept radar (LPIR).
Networked data fusion, enabling situation awareness on the battlefield.
Multirole capabilities, such as battlefield C3 (command, control and communications).
In order to minimize their radar cross-section (RCS), most fifth-generation fighters use chines instead of standard leading edge extensions and lack canards. They all have twin canted vertical tails (similar to a V-tail) also to minimize side RCS. Most fifth-generation fighters with supermaneuverability achieve it through thrust vectoring.
They all have internal weapon bays in order to avoid high RCS weapon pylons, but they all have external hardpoints on their wings for use on non-stealthy missions, such as the external fuel tanks the F-22 carries when deploying to a new theater.
All fifth-generation fighters have a high percentage of composite materials, in order to reduce RCS and weight.
There are other things, but it really makes the F117 obsolete and using it for training is taking a step back. I think it is a way the government can try to get something useful (cost effective) out of the building of them. They were ahead of their time. But they are past it now.
wy69
“...just being held in reserve for future needs?”
The F117 was a good experiment and was an optional replacement for the A10 with a little more punch. But the next generation aircraft are truly superior in many other ways. The previous fourth-generation fighters emphasized maneuverability and close-range dogfighting, typical fifth-generation characteristics include:
Stealth, with munitions stored internally.
High maneuverability, which tends to include short-field capabilities.
Supercruise, i.e. prolonged supersonic cruise without the use of reheat.
Advanced avionics, including low-probability-of-intercept radar (LPIR).
Networked data fusion, enabling situation awareness on the battlefield.
Multirole capabilities, such as battlefield C3 (command, control and communications).
In order to minimize their radar cross-section (RCS), most fifth-generation fighters use chines instead of standard leading edge extensions and lack canards. They all have twin canted vertical tails (similar to a V-tail) also to minimize side RCS. Most fifth-generation fighters with supermaneuverability achieve it through thrust vectoring.
They all have internal weapon bays in order to avoid high RCS weapon pylons, but they all have external hardpoints on their wings for use on non-stealthy missions, such as the external fuel tanks the F-22 carries when deploying to a new theater.
All fifth-generation fighters have a high percentage of composite materials, in order to reduce RCS and weight.
There are other things, but it really makes the F117 obsolete and using it for training is taking a step back. I think it is a way the government can try to get something useful (cost effective) out of the building of them. They were ahead of their time. But they are past it now.
wy69
Possibly modified to be flown by CIA contractors as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles into high-risk areas.
That’s what I was thinking, why couldn’t the tanker slow down a couple of knots?
This was a test designed to justify the air farce’s desire to lose the A-10.
Pity, it’s one of my favourite aircraft.
yep, and the tanker knows or gets told what the best contact speed is for any given aircraft that may come up to tank.
A pay out for a contractor that was put into a contract 20 years ago. If it’s OBE it’s irrelevant it’s in the contract.
hard to believe that US has been indirectly fighting Russia within the past 70 years. But the war against God is the one that is the real problem.
The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they *said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” Revelation 6:14-17
Wobblin’ Goblin. Not one of the easiest aircraft in USAF inventory to fly.
From the story itself.
And the author obviously is wrong or has an agenda.
Good point that tubes are EMP proof. Hard to imagine the secure communication encryption computers are tube-based, though. Maybe they’re EMP hardened ICs.
As I recall there are special low voltage tubes used in comm satellites. These are proof from cosmic ray damage that semiconductors are subject to. You can protect a lot of stuff with Faraday cages. But tubes do have some singular advantages. Your high powered transmitters use tubes. Tubes aren’t subject to recombination noise that transistors suffer. If you look at a tube amplifier schematic is much simpler that a solid state one because it doesn’t require the filtering for the recombination noise.
The great irony is that it’s possible that after an EMP event it might just be the pre-70s cars are the only ones still running. And old diesels.
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