Behold The Naked Warplanes Of Tinker Air Force Base
With the depot maintenance mission for a number of big jets, Tinker AFB offers rare glimpses of what these planes look like without their paint.
With the depot maintenance mission for a number of big jets, Tinker AFB offers rare glimpses of what these planes look like without their paint.
Fighters from Saudi Arabia, Israel, Egypt, and Bahrain joined the swing-wing bomber on its journey around one of the world’s toughest neighborhoods.
The B-1B swing-wing bombers are back at the Indian Ocean outpost at a time of tensions in the wider Asia-Pacific region.
It is argued that an upgraded, hypersonic-missile-toting B-1 would help narrow the capability gap with Russia and China until the B-21 Raider arrives.
The Air Force wants to acquire a B-21 fleet that is nearly seven times bigger than its current B-2 stealth bomber force.
The Air Force has been working hard in recent years to improve the B-1B fleet’s reliability after years of combat over Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan.
The swing-wing bombers have become increasingly unreliable after years of constant work over Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan.
The deployment is part of the Air Force’s new focus on the Arctic and will position the bombers near Russia’s sprawling Naval bases.
With the B-1 canceled, the Air Force looked to a radically revised, truly strategic FB-111 variant that carried more than double the fuel and weapons.
The Air Force hopes its B-1s will eventually be able to carry up to a dozen of the missiles, and potentially hypersonic weapons, on external pylons.