The continued grounding (see above) of the F-15 A-D fleet is a nightmare come true. Air Force officials now believe that years of patches made to the aircraft, coupled with flying high-stress missions far longer than anticipated, has caused the current problem. And, even if the Eagles fly again by mid-January, it will take the Air Force more than six months to get its F-15 pilots re-qualified. Read more in “It Just Got Worse.”
The KC-Z4, a blended wing body tanker concept being developed by startup JetZero, could fuel larger groups of aircraft at longer range to hold more targets at risk, company officials say.