>Operators of the C-17 Globemaster III have been reaching out to Boeing about possibly restarting the product line, and the company has been “encouraged” by these engagements. Separately, Congress recently directed the U.S. Air Force to prepare a formal briefing on the feasibility of acquiring new Globemaster IIIs.https://www.twz.com/air/boeing-encouraged-by-c-17-production-restart-discussionsOK, cool… but what about the Next Generation Air Lift program, shouldn’t resources be put into that as a newer more efficient design?Also what about the other experimental work and studies done on concepts for stealthy cargo aircraft and tankers. Shouldn’t they be taken into consideration seeing as Congress has raised questions about the survivability of the C-17 itself as well as other older designs?
>OK but what about this program that AIMS to have a new aircraft 12 years from nowHow is that relevant to near term needs, retard?
Tired and true > brand new when needing to restock and expand inventoriesThat other stuff can wait
>>65231380Clean sheet design is nearly a lost art and costs way too fucking much to happen except under serious wartime conditions. We will continue to crank out F-15s, Tomahawks, Burkes, and Bradleys until the war with China kicks off, adding the C-17 back on to the list of things that can actually be built is a much better use of limited resources than pretending that a better cargo plane can be designed and built before 2040.
NGAL will be the only chance to build a new strategic lift capability in our lifetimes.C-17s and C-5s will be kept on life support for as long as possible, but no new production line will be set up, it's simply too expensive.
>>65231380What would even a NGAL bring? It will be a legally distinct C-17 with a new paintjob. Airlift designs have been solved.
>>65231419Have you even looked at the current NGAL work or are you just speculating based of what you think it SHOULD look like based on existing platforms?
>>65231424Current NGAL work:>Program office circlejerking requirements document for yet another year>Boeing posting concept art of lifting body designs that they cannot build or handle logistically>P&W and GE taking turns shooting themselves in the foot with all of their large turbofan projects>Backroom knife fights over cost plus vs fixed price vs who else are you going to get to make it vs I will antitrust you in the ass so hardC-17 on Mars it is.
>>65231402>>65231459At this point I'm in favor of the government just forcing these companies to do their jobs.
>>65231487Imagine how unambitious and downright stupid you would have to be for the course of your Air Force career to land you behind a desk in the program office for a cargo plane tender and for you to not walk out the next day and start flying airliners and banging stewardesses for twice the money.
>>65231380>OK, cool… but what about the Next Generation Air Lift program, shouldn’t resources be put into that as a newer more efficient design?NGAL requirements are so pie in the sky absurd, and the costs would be so extreme, that it just doesn't make sense to pay for it over paying to reactivate the C-17 production line. We don't need to reinvent the wheel, we already have a good baseline heavy lifter, just reactivate the production line with 24-36 FMS customer airframe orders, USAF puts in a small order of 36-48 airframes, that fills production for 10-14 years, in that time Boeing upgrades the platform to modern 2030s standards and then sells a Block II C-17 upgrade in the late 2030s or early 2040s that just fucking works, USAF buys 100 more, first gen C-17 customers replace their first gen C-17 fleets with the new block II, everyone is happy, no one wasted 10's of billions on a cleansheet boondoogle design that at the end of the day JUST NEEDS TO MOVE SHIT FROM A TO B.
>>65231885You don't seem to understand how procurement works.>we don't need to reinvent the wheelIf the US doesn't have a nigh physics defying heavy transport aircraft first someone else might!
>>65231657yeah but at least you get to make powerpoints and be forced to take dangerous meds
I'm more interested in socoms seaplane. Did that get canned?
>>65231487The government is the whole fucking problem
Brownest thread on slash kay slash right now
>>65231419>>65231885There's a real possibility that BWBs might be figured out in the next decade. The USAF put a quarter of a billion dollars into Jetzero and are supposed to have a full scale demonstrator delivered early next year.The 2040 target date of NGAL makes sense in that context. Three years of thrashing the demonstrator to see if there's something to it. Then ten years to figure out how to go from 737 sized into a 777/C-17 sized aircraft over the 2030s.
>>65235553Missed chance to call it BBW
>>65231459Just get the Brazilians to do it
>>65235648C-390 is smol by comparisonC-390: 35x35M with 2x IAE V2500 (147kN each) C-17: 53x52M with 4x P&W PW2000 (180kN each) C-5: 75x68M with 4x GE F138 (230kN each) It's not trivial to scale that sort of aircraft up.
>>65231657You can backdoor creep to some decent political handout jobs from there. Slave at the desk for another 4 years and you'll be prime rib on a plate for Locksneed.
>>65235308>state of Israel IP
