Posted on 06/23/2015 4:57:10 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Simple answer: Obama
Because most of the USAF's F-16s aren't plumbed to use CFTs.
Can they be dropped in a battle situation. It’s one thing for transport...another during combat. Use drop tanks then DROP THEM as needed
What is it pilots say, “The only time you have too much ‘gas’ is when you’re on fire.”
While national defense is the only legitimate function of a Federal government, our system of defense contracts often stinks to high heaven. For decades we’ve built out of date vehicles and weapons systems and maintained useless installations...all due to lobbying, power in Congress, etc.
I would bet the answer to the question lies in whatever district those older tanks are manufactured, or their attendant parts, and the power that Rep/Senator holds.
From the article:
Over 250 of these aircraft are Block 50/52 F-16CJs that were delivered optimized for CFTs. In other words, around 30 percent of the USAF most advanced and youngest F-16s could easily be fitted with CFTs,
One beef with the article: jet fuel isn’t “gas”. If anything, it’s closer to kerosene than gas.
CC
The question pertained to the Newest USAF F-16's not to the most of the USAF's F-16's.
From the article.
"Over 250 of these aircraft are Block 50/52 F-16CJs that were delivered optimized for CFTs. In other words, around 30 percent of the USAF most advanced and youngest F-16s could easily be fitted with CFTs"
Seems fitting the 250+ with CFT's would be smart.
Having CFT’s PLUS air refueling would give F-16’s longer range, longer loiter time, and allow tankers to stay further back from the fighting.
No CFT, and get rid of those damnable A-10s!
As I understand it, Israel has the plans for all the hardware and manufactured them themselves and has all their F-16’s fitted / retrofitted for the Conformal Fuel Tanks. My guess? this could be some sort of a turf protection move by the tanker brass to keep their numbers and funding...
The Air Force doesn’t want the F-16 to be TOO good. That would hurt their case for buying newer aircraft.
Cool stuff.
But isn’t this a rerun of the A10 arguments, with one side arguing for greater specialization and the other side arguing for enhancing multi-role capabilities instead?
My guess is they use the more aircraft plan because it requires more pilots. The people making these decisions are pilots and are reluctant to cut requirements for their jobs.
Because Fort Knox is empty. Used all the gold on Solar Cells.
Yeah, that’s pretty much it.
You can be assured if it’s good for traditional American strength and influence, he’s agin’ it.
The three most useless things when flying
The runway behind you
The altitude above you
The fuel you didn’t load
This is the answer right here - F16 was starved to feed the F35 beast. As, in the end, was everything else.
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