As these two aircraft are decades old and would require a lot of modifications to both aircraft and systems etc,would it not be more feasible for the US,(if they did want to rejoin),to use the same model airframes used in production of the P-8 and fit two of those out with the appropriate hardware/s...

Looks as though the Royal Navy will benefit most with new Destroyers/Frigates etc,especially as we now need protection for the "Flat Tops" when on deployment!. MoD still has a £13bn black hole to fill,and apparently much of this is going to have to come from existing resources and capabilities!. Sti...

Having seen a lot of news coverage of Biden over the past week or so,future decision making seems to be a "mixed bag". He is reported to be keen to rebuild bridges with Germany after Trump somewhat called them out for thier defence spending etc! On the other hand, Biden seems to be more sceptical of...

Having spent many a time watching SR-71s at Mildenhall,I cannot recall one ever taking off and going "near vertical". More often than not it was a reasonable climb rate at speed. Assume that the M-B forum member is confusing it with the U-2

Sheikhy, Thanks for your detailed reply! You are probably right that I could be a decade out, or have attributed the wrong aircraft type to the story! Having started working at LHR for BA in 1974 I know that this particular incident was widely known about in and around the airport and reported in th...

I can also remember an Aeroflot TU-104 in the early eighties coming into land on Heathrow's southern runway 09R,initially coming in from the east,over north London,then out to the west before turning base leg back towards LHR. Apparently,they had a "short term radio failure" as they turned base leg ...

17-46030 is a KC-46A

Can I assume that the Herk would be fitted with onboard video of the refuelling process,re aircraft connecting/disconnecting from the hoses??. If so,I assume,(given the fact that an F-35 was involved),that any such video will probably not surface for many a year,if at all. If as speculated the hose ...

Just done a low overshoot at Northolt....looks to be positioning for a 2nd attempt at landing!

Edit...landed on 3rd attempt.....crosswinds!!

Spitire TE311 just done a couple of flypasts

Arrived again this evening,around 9pm-ish!!

P.V....Thanks for your reply....I didn't know that the DoD had negotiated favourable rates with these airports. Thanks for the info,makes a bit more sense now!

With regard to my post above,if I were a "bean counter" within the DoD,I would be asking questions as to why we were paying landing fees/transport and hotel costs at civilian airports,when we have readily available facilities of our own,down the road. I thought that some of the decisions made with r...

Wonder if this means that Fairford may become busier with "transient" aircraft?. At present we have C-5s,C-17s and Herks etc transiting through Belfast/Prestwick and occasionally Cardiff. Maybe now Mildenhall's future is secured,the powers that be may be thinking of utilising both bases more often f...

Whilst,I readily agree that some countries,such as Italy and Spain and Portugal,were some of the hardest hit by Covid, and i sincerely hope that this horrible disease,is genuinely a once in a lifetime one,it does not take away from what I said!. Even prior to the Covid pandemic, many ordinary German...

Not wishing to dismay those "EU devotees" amongst you all,but there are increasing signs that the EU project may be starting to fade somewhat! My son has lived and worked in Hamburg for the past six years and he says that both the business community and the population in general are becoming increas...

I note that in the planning application,that there is provision made for 3 "gipsy/traveller" sites!......Martin Baker better not leave any hardware out overnight.....could be a few aircraft down the next morning!

Not a bad scheme at all....along with others I think the serial is far too big on fuselage!...as for the Union flag on the doors,I assume that this is done,so that when opened, it appears in shot alongside whoever is exiting the aircraft,be it Boris or Royalty etc!. Overall quite impressive.

Must be booked in for an air-air photoshoot somewhere,I would assume,before going back to Brize

TeeJay has it spot on!....Contract with Marshalls/Air Livery would have been signed months ago!. Also both the RAF/MOD would have to look at timescales for taking the aircraft out of service to do this work,similarly Marshalls etc would have to plan it into thier maintenance lines....it's not just a...