There were dozens of attempts to replace the KC-135, but somehow it
never happened, I suspect mainly because they were all new rather
overcomplicated designs and everyone kept wanting to refuel vast
number of supersonic bombers we had no use for. Just like the reason
the B-52 still has 1950's turbojets instead of bypass engines (twice
the power, half the fuel use, etc) -- no one could ever make a decision.
My brother did quite a bit of design work on GE's military engines to
reduce failure rate and improve operations, and in the time he was
there not one single change was accepted "because it would interrupt
supply systems". I can see that to a certain point, but not to the
point on paralysis.
The main reason the DC-10 was selected over the L1011 or B747 as the
new tanker was GE -- they were pissed off that neither Boeing nor
Lockheed chose the CFM-6 for their widebodies (they wanted to put all
the other engine makers out of business and have a monopoly), and
having way too much political pull, nixed everything but the airframe
they had an exclusive engine supply for. Less than stellar engine for
many years, caused several crashes (some genius decided that since
they "never made bad parts" it was unnecessary to x-ray finished
parts, with the result that a large number of turbine disks had
internal defects resulting in engine explosions -- the rear engine on
Ship one blew up and shed the entire turbine assembly, luckily by
flying out the rear without airframe damage, on the initial test
flight according to gossip). It's fine now, I think, but they are all
much better than the old jets.
The main problem is way too much money, just like the main problem
with the NSA getting all phone records -- the contractors are
absorbing a vast portion of the US economy for no reason at all except
to get filthy rich.
Ah, politics!
Peter
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