Aging US Aircraft

[buster]

Not sure about the source here and I'm also not sure how true this is.

https://americanmilitarynews.com/20...34o6lY68b95LCT-2OKVJkDLq50rSAuUmPC3HFh9WWjs6s

 

[Passport1]

Who cares how old the A/C are, the USAF has the best mess halls in the world!

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

It's irrelevant when everyone has nukes.

 

[vw7674]

^^^like the above, between the hypersonic stuff being developed & the subs with enough warheads to vaporize 40 cities each, non-drone aircraft are just there for intimidation close fly-by vids. Which we all enjoy.

 

[Jetronic]

Neither country will use nukes to capture or defend taiwan... as that would mean everyone gets vaporised.

 

[Fifth87]

Who cares how old the A/C are, the USAF has the best mess halls in the world!

That was my experience with them

 

[Malo83]

Kadena AFB in Okinawa was pretty good.

 

[PandaBear]

Neither country will use nukes to capture or defend taiwan... as that would mean everyone gets vaporised.

Won't really vaporise everyone but consider this:

1) Imagine Catalan and Spanish, the 2 people who disagree with each other on the sovereignty, gets into a war, maybe asking outsider to help their civil war. If you are on either side would you consider using nuke? It is like cousins fighting over a girlfriend and one person decided to stab the other with a kitchen knife, not going to end well and maybe not worth it.

2) Conventional war destroying infrastructure and world economy is enough of a deteriance, if anything like a real war break out between US, China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea it would be a big 20 year global recession. Russia may make a comeback and maybe Australia would be lucky not to be involved, that's all I can think of, and not a good deal. I think China knows and that's their goal if US / Taiwan force them to fight this war, and they know they cannot win but they will make sure nobody wins either.

 

[2EHA]

aircraft are always needed for power projection against lesser equipped enemies.

an unlikely conventional war over taiwan will certainly result in the destruction of most chinese military assets in a timely manner but you cannot count on them doing the smart thing and not reaching for the button when defeat is imminent.

the j-20 and the pl-13 missile it carries supposed capabilities are dubious at best and likely not better than what we currently have in inventory or what is coming online soon. the rest of their air force is second rate garbage.

 

[javacontour]

Imagine that, the Secretary of the AF says we need new stuff.

The fashion industry says you need new clothes to stay in style.

The automotive industry says you need to trade up to this year's model.

There are probably some concerns, but understand how this cabinet member gets his bread buttered.

 

[Al]

Translation..We the U.S. Air Force want/need more $$$$

 

[PimTac]

The A10 is a well proven workhorse despite its age. Same with the C-130 platform.

Sometimes you make improvements on things to keep them competitive and sometimes age and technology make the decision for you.

Back in 1976 I served on the USCGC Confidence up in Alaska. Today that same ship is still performing the mission. Commissioned in 1966 and with 55 years of service I’d say the taxpayers got their moneys worth out of her. She will probably pass 60 years before the new OPC ships are built to replace that class.

 

[Cujet]

We operate a 17 year old Gulfstream G550. We just purchased a new G600. Despite being the same size, there is no commonality between them. Unfortunately, the new G600 is less efficient, struggles at altitude and despite carrying a bit more fuel, can't go as far.

My point is this, a well refined and well understood design makes for a capable aircraft. Newer is no longer better, the science was honed to near perfection 4 decades ago.

 

[jonnied1]

The old B-52s are still holding their own. Just read today that they are going wo get new P&W engines.
I was a crew chief on them from 1970-1974.
Today, they aren't the same aircraft I worked on.

 

[zeky]

Jet aircraft airframes can last a very long time. While the new Chinese fighters are all sleek and shiney, and have some impressive performance figures on paper, they still have a lot of operational bugs to work out.