[MilCom] WAS KC-45 Bases; now F-117

[Duane Mantick]

--- "Jack L. Metcalfe" <jlmetcalfe at hughes.net> wrote:

<snip>

> 
> Change of subject, catch your F-117s while you can. 
> The remaining 
> F-117s will be placed into "recallable" storage at
> Holloman AFB next 
> month.  Of the original 59 F-117s, 7 were destroyed
> (one in combat) 
> 10 were retired in FY 2007 & the remainder will go
> this FY.  Holloman 
> may be flying the F-22 as a replacement.
> -------------------
> Jack L. Metcalfe
> Stanford, KY
> jlmetcalfe at hughes.net
> -------------------
> 
> 

Jack - replacing the F-117 with F-22 is unlikely - so
far as I can tell, the F-22's original F/A designation
was baloney, and the weapons bays cannot (so far as I
can tell) accomodate the BLU and GBU stuff that the
F-117 could.  Placing those things *externally* on the
F-22 airframe may not even be possible, and even if it
was, stealth would be out the window.

A number of people have been speculating for years
that it is likely that there is an F-117 replacement
and it could already be in operation and still
"blackworld".  Consider the mission - pinpoint,
surgical strikes with generally single munitions by
individual aircraft (which reduces the likelihood of
visual pickup even at night).  I do not see an
aircraft *openly* in the inventory that can do this in
such an extremely stealthy manner.

If F-117's are in the process of being mothballed NOW,
that's a good sign that said replacement is already
out there in sufficient quantity to take over the
mission.  With 59 F-117's the max. ever available, it
wouldn't have taken much production to equal that
strictly in numerical terms.  I suppose it is an
option that the mission has been discontinued but I
seriously doubt it - in the current threat
environment, an effective stealthy surgical strike
aircraft seems extremely logical.

What would we be looking at?  The faceted form of the
F-117 and its Have Blue predecessor was shown to be
extremely effective in having a small Radar Cross
Section. The B2 takes stealth in an entirely different
direction.  I would think that some combination of
*both* styles is possible - The flying wing is highly
efficient in range and payload and would likely
require less refueling per mission.  This is
desireable, as the presence of tankers which are
anything BUT stealthy could easily be a giveaway to a
mission.  Carrying large BLU and GBU munitions was
limited to TWO in the F-117; I would think that a
flying wing design about midway between the F-117 size
and the B2 could carry multiple munitions over a
longer range than the F-117.  Yet, keeping it
physically below a certain size again reduces the
visual signature from being an issue.

I'd bet that we're looking at a new bird out there....

An increase in CONUS tanker traffic might be an
indication, at least of training missions....but, I
did speculate that good refuelled range may have been
a design characteristic.  Listening for "the unusual"
in odd places might be of value......

Duane



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