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August 17th, 2004, 22:43
| #1 |
| Old Skool  Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Red Sox Nation
Posts: 1,630
|  Boeing 707\'s in the military
I found an article about the avionics being upgraded on the Navy's Boeing 707's. I don't understand; why is our military still using these planes? I know the 707 is a great airplane but they're pushing 40+ years old. Don't you think it's time to modernize the fleet? I know the Air Force is looking to begin replacing tankers with the 767, and, despite the botched negotiations, that's a start. The contract mentioned in the article mentions it could be extended all the way to 2035. That would imply a 70 year old airplane! Aviationnow.com article |
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August 17th, 2004, 23:23
| #2 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: May 2003 Location: Home Sweet Home!
Posts: 957
| Re: Boeing 707\'s in the military
What's interesting is the avionics package is exactly what we have in the C-12 ... same FMS, EFIS and assorted controls. The C-5 has the same FMS as well only in triplicate. Jim |
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August 18th, 2004, 20:34
| #3 |
| Newbie Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 1
| Re: Boeing 707\'s in the military
The E-6s are only 14 years old. Made in 1990's. They are the last 707 ever made. Now the KC -135s are ooold. But they spent the cold war hardly flying, so they have many years left.
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August 18th, 2004, 22:19
| #4 |
| Old Skool  Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: DTW
Posts: 1,801
 | Re: Boeing 707\'s in the military
IF it still can do the job why not upgrade it and keep using it...Just look at the B-52's now up to the H model.
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August 19th, 2004, 13:42
| #5 |
| Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 149
| Re: Boeing 707\'s in the military
Hate to burst your bubble, and no critique is intended. That being said, your premise is totally wrong. Throughout the "cold war" Tankers were sitting alert loaded to 301600 lbs. This in and of it's self was enough to put excessive strain on all parts of the airframe. Sitting while fully,and in actuality, overloaded [stated because inflight gross wt was 298000 lbs A model] is very determental to airframes. In addition to the alert cycle, all of the tanker force was constantly in flight for Arc Light or Young Tiger support. This intailed Max Gross wt takeoff . Short duration missions and rapid, for tankers, turn around times. Airframe times have exceeded the Boeing estamates by a wide margin and political manuvering/money grubbing has insured that the Boeing Tankers will continue to carry the load for a long time to come. |
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August 19th, 2004, 16:31
| #6 |
| Old Skool Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Red Sox Nation
Posts: 1,630
| Re: Boeing 707\'s in the military
The 707 (E-6) line was open until the 1990's??? I could have sworn that it was closed down in the 1970's. Interesting indeed.
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August 19th, 2004, 17:22
| #7 |
| Junior Member  Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Centennial, Colorado
Posts: 165
| Re: Boeing 707\'s in the military |
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August 30th, 2004, 00:21
| #8 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Hockey Town, MI,USA
Posts: 839
| Re: Boeing 707\'s in the military
[ QUOTE ] The E-6s are only 14 years old. Made in 1990's. They are the last 707 ever made. Now the KC -135s are ooold. But they spent the cold war hardly flying, so they have many years left. [/ QUOTE ] I think you are mistaken. If they are like E-3's then the airframe had been used for somethin gother then being a TACAMO. Some of our E-3's came out in early 80's. but every single one of them, had been used for other tasks, some military, and some civilian. Boeing bought a bunch of 707 airframes back and turned it them E-3's So the date will probably represent when it was turned into the E-6 |
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