Posted on 03/20/2012 6:28:38 PM PDT by U-238
Korean Air on Tuesday made its first delivery of a rewired U.S. fighter plane from its Busan Tech Center under a $400 million order it won from the U.S. Air Force last September.
Under the deal, Korean Air will work on 60 F-15 fighters stationed in the Pacific region by 2016, replacing their tail wings and re-wiring them in line with the U.S. military’s project to improve its combat strength. Korean Air will also carry out maintenance work.
The airliner said it replaced some 15,000 Kepton wires used in the F-15 with more elastic Teflon wires and ran tests to make sure all systems work perfectly. The rewired F-15 fighter delivered on Tuesday also went through depot maintenance, according to Korean Air.
U.S. Department of Defense officials in charge of the contract management and the F-15 operating troops attended the delivery ceremony on Tuesday at the Busan Tech Center.
(Excerpt) Read more at koreaherald.com ...
Ping
They replaced red wires with led wires and green wires with gleen wires?
The white wires stay the same...
Talking about getting all wired up.
That is so stolen! :)
First time ever I can say I’m glad I’m not an F-15 jockey.... Korea: Land of the “almost right”
journalists...
*Kapton...they are also not replacing Kapton wires with Teflon wires. They are replacing Kapton coated wires with Teflon coated wires. The wires are copper.
According to the article,Korean Air is the only Asia-Pacific depot for military aircraft. They have been doing this since 1983.
Why is this a Korean and not an American project.
Couldnt we use those jobs in America?
I think it is still a crime to import a square, plumb bob, or level into Korea.....
There is also the 561st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Robins Air Force Base that re-wires F-15. Maybe its the length of time to re-wire an F-15.The rewire is a tedious, time-consuming, almost 200-day process that requires the jets to be stripped to their essence, their aluminum alloy fuselages laid bare. Engines and components are set aside for later reinstallation. Hydraulic lines are removed along with 95 percent of the switches and relays. Up to 8,000 man-hours and more than 3,000 actions are expended for each aircraft.
I would not know.
When I was stationed with the Navy in Japan we had a lot of depot level work done by a Japanese firm. They were really good, and literally stood by their work. When you went to get the airplane they would have their crew standing out at the airplane. On the flip side there were some depots in the U.S. that we were scared to pick up planes from.
Silly rabbit,,, jobs are not for America!
Cringing to think that that was my first thought, too. I hope we're proven wrong.
I agree with you.
The Japanese company at Atsugi used to also do work on CH-46s, which are some of the oldest, nastiest, most beat up things still flying. I’ve had a couple guys tell me stories about picking up 46’s from that company that flew clean or nearly clean on their first functional check flight. That is absolutely unheard of in that community.
If the wires were "Kepton," that would be a good thing, because we sure wouldn't want them to fall off!
Of course they might have meant "kapton," which is a good insulator for certain applications such as flex circuits. Replacing such wires with Teflon insulation might degrade their abrasion and cut resistance, unless either carefully dressed or augmented with a thin outer wrap of nylon, or....kapton.
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