Mississippi ANG Gains MC-12W: The Air Force has turned over the first of its new Liberty Project Aircraft to the Mississippi Air National Guard's 186th Air Refueling Wing at Key Field in Meridian. The plan unveiled last fall will place seven of the intelligence-surveillance-
A couple o’ few months ago I mentioned I saw an MC-12W out at Cannon Airplane Patch, not thinking to append a disclaimer such as “I thought I saw…” or some such. It’s pretty evident to me after looking at the photo appended to the article above that what I saw out at Cannon that day was a garden-variety C-12… and NOT an MC-12W. Consider this a correction to my old post.
There are always a few C-12s on the ramp out at Cannon and some of those are most interesting, indeed. By that I mean they don’t carry “standard” USAF markings, lacking the national insignia (the USAF roundel) and home base fin flashes, i.e., the USAF base code. Just this last week I saw a C-12 shooting touch ‘n’ goes out at the base, dressed in white livery with a single blue stripe down the length of the aircraft… with no fin flash, no roundels, and no visible serial number on the aircraft… at least none that I could see. There’s more than one kind of stealth.
―:☺:―
And then there’s this about Secretary Gates' decision to halt F-22 production:
F-22, C-17 Decisions Based on Suspect Logic: So says retired Gen. Richard Hawley, former head of Air Combat Command, in his testimony before the Senate Armed Services airland panel Thursday afternoon. Hawley declared that the correct number of new F-22 fighters is "381 aircraft, not 187 or even 243." He said that number is based on two sets of "rigorous analysis" and that the call by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to curtail production at only 187 fighters is "based on no analysis whatsoever." He was equally critical of Gates' plan to end C-17 production at 205 airlifters, saying that decision was based on "dated analysis of the requirement." Various lawmakers have voiced similar concerns, including Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), who chaired the airland panel hearing and said later that the testimony by Hawley and other witnesses "reinforces my concern" that "it would be imprudent to cancel and realign our most important defense acquisition programs in the absence of a strategy." Hawley had made the point that the requirement for 381 Raptors was based on current national security, national defense, and national military strategies and that any decision to change that number should await a review of those strategies and the just-commenced Quadrennial Defense Review. He said decisions to cut these programs at this point "will preempt the full and open debate that should precede any major change to the force-sizing construct." (Hawley written testimony) (We'll have more coverage of this hearing.)
The plot continues to thicken, eh? It’s that damned and oh-so-nefarious “military-industrial complex” at work. (My last was sarcasm, just in case you might think I’m serious.)
I’m not a military strategist nor do I play one on teevee. People of my former military pay grade NEVER make these sorts of decisions, nor are their opinions solicited by others when such decisions are made. But I’m allowed to have an opinion, and that’s what counts in these parts. I’ve read the arguments and counter-arguments for the F-22 and I’ve come to the conclusion that 187 ain’t near enough to replace the existing 500 or so F-15s the Air Force operates… no matter how many F-35s you throw into the mix at some future time. And I respect the opinion of Air Force general officers (active and retired), including those who used to head up the principal USAF combatant command.
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