Wondering about fuel tanks....

[Lucican]

Does the military(Russian and American) Generals get angry if a pilot or squadron drops their fuel tanks?

Wouldn't they say, "that was an expensive pressurized fuel tank and you dumped it on top of a tank and cracked it open. That's goana come out of your paycheck."

Or do they just not care because both of their defence budgets are over the roof(at least America's is)?

[Eddie]

"General's" wouldn't give a damn, even if they actually found out, they have important things to worry about.

 

If drop tanks need to be dropped, you drop them.

[cichlidfan]

If drop tanks need to be dropped, you drop them.

 

...and if you hit a tank with it, hope somebody got pictures. ;)

[Flagrum]

"General's" wouldn't give a damn, even if they actually found out, they have important things to worry about.

 

If drop tanks need to be dropped, you drop them.

And if you drop then although you hadn't had to ... your superior surely will make sure that that was the first and the last time you did it, right? :D

[NRG-Vampire]

and do you know the cost of that f-15 eft ?

how expensive is that ?

i guess $30k-50k :P

[Davis0079]

in an emergency situation the survival of the pilot is first priority...the survival of the plane, 2nd...completion of the mission and objective, 3rd....the returning of the drop tanks back into inventory, 30245th.....

 

...I'm sure if any pilot is just dropping them to have fun or to be a smart ass will find out they are not military quality after too long....those that educated and trained for many, many year to be able to fly military aircraft normally do not risk such an opportunity over disposable drop tanks and/or the improper use of them.....

 

....but in the game you can chuck those f**kers where ever you wish....I wont tell if you dont....

[EtherealN]

An F-15C costs about 15 to 30k dollars an hour just to operate (couldn't find a solid figure).

An AMRAAM costs a fair stretch over a million dollars.

Sidewinders some 700k dollars.

Heck, even an M61 ammo load is over 3k dollars...

 

Something as simple as a tank with a pressure bladder to accept air pressure from the engines is very very cheap when put in comparison to everything else an air force spends money on. (The actual technology is fairly simple and analogous to things that are standard equipment in many industrial applications.) I wouldn't think they'd drop them if they didn't actually have reason to do so - but that would probably more be a matter of not wanting to destroy people's houses, cars or even kill them than the cost of the thing; and if deployed forward of course the issue of having to fly in new ones.

[Eddie]

Something as simple as a tank with a pressure bladder to accept air pressure from the engines is very very cheap when put in comparison to everything else an air force spends money on.

 

Well I wouldn't go that far. For example the drop tanks for Typhoon (at least the newest standard tanks) are £125,000 each.

 

But yeah, still not exactly expensive in comparion.

 

The Tornado's left 6 tanks in the Libyan desert back in 2011 and another set on the runway threshold. IRL the first sign on the RWR of something tracking you and the tanks are gone, and any sign of enigne issues and they are gone as well. No hesitation whatsoever. That doesn't mean they are dropped just because they are empty of course.

[aaron886]

Everyone is talking about the small cost of dropping tanks... but every professional military aviator I've met or read has a personal aversion to dropping tanks without definite need. Everything is a resource, but more importantly, professional pride/integrity is at stake.

[EtherealN]

Everyone is talking about the small cost of dropping tanks... but every professional military aviator I've met or read has a personal aversion to dropping tanks without definite need. Everything is a resource, but more importantly, professional pride/integrity is at stake.

 

We're talking different things here though.

 

No one has said they would drop them "for fun".

But they certainly wouldn't hesitate to drop them immediately if they have any reason to, and their CO's wouldn't come running about the bill afterwards.

[EtherealN]

Well I wouldn't go that far. For example the drop tanks for Typhoon (at least the newest standard tanks) are £125,000 each.

 

I think I recall a pricetag around like 10-30k dollars for the US F-15C ones, but now that you mention it - this might have been an early 80's pricetag which, adjusted for inflation, would become a good bit bigger.

 

Though, I would also be prepared to guess that the phoon might have been given tanks with fancy materiels and paintcoats meant to reduce RCS etcetera, which would probably not be true (at least not to the same extent) of older jets like F-15C or Su-27.

 

EDIT: oh, and:

 

That doesn't mean they are dropped just because they are empty of course.

 

...especially since they can be refilled from the tanker. :P

Edited January 13, 2014 by EtherealN

[NRG-Vampire]

Well I wouldn't go that far. For example the drop tanks for Typhoon (at least the newest standard tanks) are £125,000 each.

 

 

uhh, what :surprise: that's $200k+

sure it's too expensive for a keg :megalol:

[TimeKilla]

 

:megalol:

[Eddie]

uhh, what :surprise: that's $200k+

sure it's too expensive for a keg :megalol:

 

They are a little bit more advanced than 'a keg'. ;)

 

Newer Typhoon drop tanks each have two electically powered fuel pumps which pump fuel under pressure, rather than relying on bleed air and/or suction feed as in most (older) aircraft.

 

They are also much lower drag than traditional drop tanks, especially at transonic and supersonic speeds. They're only 1000 litre though.

[TimeKilla]

That will be why in some pictures of the typhoon it's carrying one on each wing.

[DarkStar]

In peacetime, the loss or damage of equipment is considered a mishap, which will lead to lengthy reports being written by the pilot, CO and so forth... so no, unless it is an emergency, they never drop their tanks.

[Cali]

Pilots have a checklist and if the list says to drop the tank....they drop it. You can't go wrong following the checklist.

[Eddie]

You would be surprised at what a flag officer will give a damn about on any given day.

 

And they find out about everything.

 

I wouldn't be surprised at all, dealt with plenty of the buggers over the years. And they only find out the things they are told about, or at least ours do. It's somewhat difficult for them to hear about thing that happen at bases and Sqn they only visit once or twice a year at best. If yours find out about everything it means you're clearly doing something wrong somewhere.

 

Besides, given that senior officers over here are essentially all aircrew anyway they tend to agree with what they do.

[mvsgas]

Does the military(Russian and American) Generals get angry if a pilot or squadron drops their fuel tanks?

Wouldn't they say, "that was an expensive pressurized fuel tank and you dumped it on top of a tank and cracked it open. That's goana come out of your paycheck."

Or do they just not care because both of their defence budgets are over the roof(at least America's is)?

it would depends on the situation. I the pilot had an emergency and took all the required steps, no body would care. If the pilot was over a bomb range and drop the tank by mistake because he set the SMS wrong and drop the tank as opposed to the practice bomb he was trying to drop....yeah, the pilot might have some issues then.