Air Force may pursue stealthy tanker for KC-Z

a reply to: Zaphod58

Haha absolutely true. I'm not disagreeing with you on much of what you're saying but I still think time will tell on the overall function of it. From what I'm hearing they want it to be able to follow the package in/close and top off either before or after they cross over. Now THAT would be a huge bump in capability. But a lofty goal nonetheless.

How close they get to that aim? Well your last sentence rings true. Yet I think it's totally possible from a carrier born aircraft. I'll stand by that.

a reply to: Blackfinger

Feel free to point us in the right direction of said PDF...

When the study for the KC-Z begins, two areas that will be looked carefully at, are the Speed Agile program from 2002, and the HWB and BWB programs. Neither the HWB or BWB are designed to be stealthy, but they would have an RCS advantage over other commercial aircraft, and would be a good starting point. They're also looking at arming them with missiles, or possibly laser weapons.

aviationweek.com...

a reply to: Zaphod58

And again, if I may, I think they're going to examine the Raider project very closely as a possible offshoot for a tanker.

Boeing wants another try:

www.thedrive.com...

originally posted by: anzha
Boeing wants another try:

www.thedrive.com...

Boeing has previously worked on blended wing body aircraft research and development ever since McDonnell Douglas (which pioneered design studies for a BWB airliner in the 1990s) merged with Boeing in August 1997, and it built and tested a BWB subscale tech demonstrator, the X-48, in 2007-2013 (the initial X-48 design, the X-48A Low-Speed Vehicle, was cancelled in 2002 due to a tight NASA budget, but a refined version of the X-48A design with a slightly smaller wingspan was constructed as the X-48B, which in turn gave rise to the two engine X-48C). If Boeing hits the jackpot when it comes to securing a USAF to build a full-scale BWB tanker transport, its decades of research into military versions of its BWB concept could pay off. Of course, Northrop Grumman still leans the US aerospace industry in developing flying wings, and could potentially pull off a victory in the BWB transport competition with a 390 foot span derivative of the B-21 Raider with internally mounted turbofan engines.

Blended wing designs go back a lot further.

a reply to: Potlatch

Boeing has also completely screwed the KC-46 into the ground sideways.

originally posted by: Blackfinger
Blended wing designs go back a lot further.

Scott Lowther, who's written several publications on unbuilt aircraft designs and a number of books regarding development and evolution of the Blackbird, B-47, B-52, and Cold War American supersonic bombers, wrote an article about the history of blended wing body aircraft design in the Aerospace Projects Review magazine showing that Northrop worked on a design for a cargo blended wing body aircraft in the early 1950s:
www.aerospaceprojectsreview.com...

KC-Z planned to be flying by 2040?

breakingdefense.com...

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Potlatch

Boeing has also completely screwed the KC-46 into the ground sideways.

Understatement of the week.

KC-Y and KC-Z are dead. They're looking at the Next Generation Air Refueling System (NGAS) in the mid to late 2030s, with IOC in 2040. The Air Force believes that a KC-Y program will see deliveries start in 2032 for more KC-46s, and 2034 for Lockheed with LMXT, which will create a tanker gap (like that's not already happening) between the end of deliveries of the KC-46, and the follow on to KC-Y. The most likely scenario is an additional 75 KC-46s will be bought.

breakingdefense.com...

With the next gen being a lot bigger supposedly tankers will have to be able to accommodate them and put them further into harms way..Stealth will have to be a clean slate design.Interesting the Navy has already got a gap fixed..Finally....

a reply to: Zaphod58

We can ignore the problem until it goes away.

a reply to: anzha

Through some miracle it hasn’t bit them in the ass yet, so they’ll keep kicking it down the road.

Consider the can kicked:

Early 2030s for the stealthy tanker:

www.flightglobal.com...

And then...the USAF realizes they have a problem and want to order a new tanker:

www.janes.com...

breakingdefense.com...