Ancient Jet Keeps The U.S. Air War Flying -- The Danger Room
SOUTHWEST ASIA (unspecified location) — At the heart of the high-tech, wired-to-the-hilt American air war in Afghanistan is a rusting plane so old-school, it predates John F. Kennedy’s term in the White House.
I’m in front of a matte-gray jet, designed to deliver gas to the rest of the American air armada as it buzzes over Central Asia and the Middle East. Every day, the KC-135 tankers here haul a million pounds of fuel. Without them, the fighter jets, bombers and airborne haulers circling above Afghanistan and Iraq would drop out of the sky. That’s a pretty heavy burden for a bunch of old-timers — this plane was built in 1960.
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My Comment: Any bets that the new Air Force version of a tanker will be over budget, hard to maintain, and will definitely not last 50 years.
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