In a landmark deal, the Royal Air Force signed a contract with EADS today worth 13 billion pounds for a new fleet of tanker aircraft based on the Airbus A330 to replace its aging fleet of VC-10s and Tristars. The most unique part of this deal though, is that some of the aircraft will be leased by the RAF from EADS' new consortium, AirTanker. And I'm just getting started. Some of the aircraft, while not being used for combat support may be used to transport paying commercial passengers around the world. With an entry into service in 2011, the new tanker, similar to the US Air Force's KC-45, is intended to revolutionize the RAF's strategic and tactical capabilities while making them a little money on the side. I don't know though. Military planes always have that "military" smell in them. I hope the paying passengers don't mind the smell of sweaty man and musky canvas too much.
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Thursday, March 27, 2008
RAF to use new tanker for commercial passengers
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2 comments:
Interesting factoid I hadn't thought about yet. I suppose it isn't to surprising since they already use the L-1011's for moving civilian pax back and forth ,to and from, the far flung remants of the Empire. I've seen pics of this activity occuring at Ascencion Island and the Falklands. Wouldn't surprise me if Diego Garcia was also on a route. The things you can do when you're the 'Only Way to Fly' someplace. (Apologies to the memories of Western Airlines)
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