06/18/2013: By Robbin Laird In these photos provided by the 33rd Fighter Wing, F-35As are being tanked by a KC-135. The photos were shot from the tanker during the tanking operation. Earlier this year, I wrote a piece in the Canadian journal Front Line Defence on the F-35 and tanking,…
04/21/2013: A Corpus Christi based Coast Guard helicopter crew prepares to hoist a man to safety in the Gulf of Mexico, Feb. 2, 2013. The man was hit by a crane aboard the tanker and lost feeling in the lower half of his body. Credit:U.S. Coast Guard District 8 PADET…
The UAE is in a dangerous neighborhood. With the opening of an air operations center, the UAE seeks to enhance the efficiencies of its combat forces. A key element for the UAE to shape greater capability is to project its air power in the region to deal with various threats…
06/14/2011: The A400M can both be refueled in the air and function, itself as an air tanker. This will allow it to be a key part of any task force. As Pablo Quesada Ramos, Head of Market Development, MRTT and other Airbus platforms derivatives, noted in an interview:The A400M can…
The Air Force Tanker Decision: A ‘Fairer’ Way Forward By Michael W. Wynne, 21st Secretary of the Air Force Credit: KC-135, http://www.aviationexplorer.com 11/17/2010 - The Air Force is confronting a conundrum that in 1998, the Government Accounting Office (GAO) called a mandatory replacement program for the aging tanker fleet. There…
Air Force Association White Paper Excerpts As the support functions ramp up, the USAF has relied more on the KC-10s to provide for the tanker gap. And as the Administration moves forward to make a tanker decision, it is important to re-visit why tankers are so important to the US…
Given the centrality of Alabama to two national competitions, i.e. the well-known tanker competition, but also the LCS one, George Talbot, political editor of the Mobile Press-Register and Robbin Laird (Sldinfo.com) sat down with Governor Riley of Alabama on November 17, 2009 to discuss the role of Alabama in aerospace…
George Talbot, political editor of the Mobile Press-Register has written a powerful column about the desire of the mother of a fallen hero in the wars in South West Asia to see the new tanker provided to the troops. "Get on with it," says Connie Gibson . "Whatever it takes."…
