Can the IL-78 be converted to a normal cargo config without much hassle?
Was reading up some stuff on PLAAF H-6s. Some points about tanker ops:
http://china-defense.com/aviation/h6tanker/h6tanker01.html
On hours –
According to some reports PLAAF H-6 pilots (presumably including the crews of the tanker versions) only get 80 flying hours a year.
…
That said, 80 hours seems very low. This amount of time would only allow for one three-hour training sortie (which I would expect to be the shortest duration of flight that would allow the crew to meet minimum training requirements) every two weeks. For comparison, in the early 1990s (and it probably hasn’t changed very much since then) KC-135 pilots, copilots, navigators and boom operators (who operate the refueling systems on the KC-135) might expect to fly around 250 hours per year. (2) SAC KC-135 crews were also required to conduct thus-and-so-many takeoffs, landings, instrument approaches, rendezvous, air refuelings, navigation training legs, contacts (physical connection of the refueling boom to the receiver aircraft’s receptacle), and so forth during these sorties.
operational aspects –
Turning to operations, a sample operational sortie would have twelve J-8Ds supported by two HU-6s on three Combat Air Patrol (CAP) orbits (one flight of four aircraft per CAP) at 1200 km. Approaching a precomputed bingo point (around 800 km) the fighters would refuel. This would allow enough go-home gas for recovery in case any of the fighters had problems with the A/R. (For this reason it can be expected that the force would have a few spare fighters along, to replace any that had to turn back.) Approaching the CAP orbit the fighters would top off and the tankers would RTB. More tankers could then be dispatched to maintain the CAP as long as necessary.
A 1500 km sortie could be planned similarly, but with the ratio of tankers to fighters adjusted to one to four. An 1800 km sortie would require a ratio of one to two, and would be pushing it for both the HU-6 and J-8 (if nothing else, 5 ½ hours is a long time to sit on an ejection seat!). However, even longer sorties – 2000+ km – are possible using post-strike rendezvous and refueling. These refuelings are routine operations for the USAF and RAF, and have been conducted by other air forces even under combat conditions. For example, the Argentine Air Force used post-strike refuelings regularly during the 1982 Falklands/Malvinas conflict.
Big Tankers vs small –
Does China’s purchase of IL-78s imply that these will supplant the HU-6 tankers? I don’t think so. A recent Australian study pointed out the advantages of small/medium tankers – flexibility and relatively low acquisition and operation costs – and lamented that the RAAF couldn’t afford a mix of these with large “strategic” tankers. The US, the UK, and Russia all employ such a mix, and it appears that this is what China intends as well.
Sign In
