E-6 going away

[Ozarky]

Current Tacamo JO here. Even within the community, there’s a lot of confusion and rumor mill activity with regards to what the future of Tacamo looks like. That being said, I’ll pass along what is considered to be pretty reliable information right now.

The C-130 does not appear to be able to hit the wickets that were originally hoped, which is funny considering Lockheed went to the trouble of putting a Tacamo C-130 billboard up outside of NAS Pax touting how great it’s going to be. I’m not saying the replacement won’t be the C-130, but there are some majors kinks to be worked out and changes/compromises made if it’s going to come to fruition. This is at least my understanding of the issue right now.

The ABNCP mission which we currently do in conjunction with the Air Force also does not currently have a replacement; so there’s some talk of the Air Force taking the E-6’s after we’ve fielded a replacement and continuing to use them exclusively in that role.

It seems like it’s been such a dumpster fire to this point that I wish they’d just fire up a 707 assembly line again and pop out a few more airframes and parts. Fact of the matter is; when the jet works, it’s pretty dang good at what it does.

 

[robav8r]

Color me skeptical we need a niche community like VQ(T) in the Navy with all the associated career track costs. Sort of like VXE-6, feels like something that could be folded into the ANG. But I'm mildly ignorant of what they do beyond stream an antenna and pass signals.

There is a LOT of redundancy and resiliency in getting an EAM to an SSBN, including use of the FSBS. As the entire nuclear triad is being replaced, a LOT more attention needs to be given to the supporting NC3 infrastructure . . . .

 

[wink]

Seems to me that TACAMO is very well suited to significant SELRES operational support. An argument could even be made for turning it into an actual hardware Reserve Squadron. Lots of ANG squardons play in the national air defense arena.

 

[SynixMan]

I seriously don't think the Navy should make a decision on the platform based on career track costs for a niche community.

In fact, I like the idea of niche communities. Kind of like U2s in the USAF.

Also, somebody has to man those catapults on disassociated sea tours.

I think the point is it's hard to man the community when there's two command billets and a handful of DHs in today's age of retention. It's not a sexy mission like the Dragon Lady, but it also has geographical constraints. Could it be done with SELRES/TAR forces? Maybe. Probably worth looking into. HM faced a similar fate as a niche capability that withered on an aging airframe with associated pain. I don't want to equate towing MCM sleds at 100AGL with streaming a cable in terms of airframe stress, but the manning issue is comparable.

The ABNCP mission which we currently do in conjunction with the Air Force also does not currently have a replacement; so there’s some talk of the Air Force taking the E-6’s after we’ve fielded a replacement and continuing to use them exclusively in that role.

It seems like it’s been such a dumpster fire to this point that I wish they’d just fire up a 707 assembly line again and pop out a few more airframes and parts. Fact of the matter is; when the jet works, it’s pretty dang good at what it does.

Nice idea, but it's been 30 years. The tooling isn't there. I'd expect something like a 737 or 767 variant now that Boeing is pumping them out for big DoD. The bigger idea of an E-4B replacement also taking on the E-6 mission is realistic.

 

[robav8r]

I think the point is it's hard to man the community when there's two command billets and a handful of DHs in today's age of retention. It's not a sexy mission like the Dragon Lady, but it also has geographical constraints. Could it be done with SELRES/TAR forces? Maybe. Probably worth looking into. HM faced a similar fate as a niche capability that withered on an aging airframe with associated pain. I don't want to equate towing MCM sleds at 100AGL with streaming a cable in terms of airframe stress, but the manning issue is comparable.



Nice idea, but it's been 30 years. The tooling isn't there. I'd expect something like a 737 or 767 variant now that Boeing is pumping them out for big DoD. The bigger idea of an E-4B replacement also taking on the E-6 mission is realistic.

Heard this will likely be the 747-8 ???

 

[Griz882]

Heard this will likely be the 747-8 ???

I thought they stopped making 747s as well.

 

[sevenhelmet]

Seems to me that TACAMO is very well suited to significant SELRES operational support. An argument could even be made for turning it into an actual hardware Reserve Squadron. Lots of ANG squardons play in the national air defense arena.

Nope, nope, nope. That's a reasoned and fair argument for a valid reserve mission. We can't have folks being taken away from handing out basketballs to the Army in Djibouti now, can we?

Maybe we can just send out EAMs on Twitter. Don't worry about receiving them, sailors will find a way...

 

[Griz882]

So, @wink, is this yet another potential job for the Zombie Viking?

 

[robav8r]

I thought they stopped making 747s as well.

All About the Boeing 747-8 - Airport Spotting

In early 2004, Boeing announced provisional plans for the next generation of the 747 called…

www.airportspotting.com

 

[GroundPounder]

I thought they stopped making 747s as well.

They did, the last one rolled out 6 Dec 22.

 

[Uncle Fester]

They stopped making them, but the airframes are still out there. The VC-25Bs are going to be built up on upcycled -8Is.

For TACAMO, hey, let's just revive the Emergency Rocket Communication System.

 

[ChuckMK23]

Current Tacamo JO here. Even within the community, there’s a lot of confusion and rumor mill activity with regards to what the future of Tacamo looks like. That being said, I’ll pass along what is considered to be pretty reliable information right now.

The C-130 does not appear to be able to hit the wickets that were originally hoped, which is funny considering Lockheed went to the trouble of putting a Tacamo C-130 billboard up outside of NAS Pax touting how great it’s going to be. I’m not saying the replacement won’t be the C-130, but there are some majors kinks to be worked out and changes/compromises made if it’s going to come to fruition. This is at least my understanding of the issue right now.

The ABNCP mission which we currently do in conjunction with the Air Force also does not currently have a replacement; so there’s some talk of the Air Force taking the E-6’s after we’ve fielded a replacement and continuing to use them exclusively in that role.

It seems like it’s been such a dumpster fire to this point that I wish they’d just fire up a 707 assembly line again and pop out a few more airframes and parts. Fact of the matter is; when the jet works, it’s pretty dang good at what it does.

Can TACAMO double down on the USAF Wedgetail buy?

 

[Flash]

Heard this will likely be the 747-8 ???

They did, the last one rolled out 6 Dec 22.

That is still a possibility if they can find already made 747-8 airframes, the new Air Force One aircraft were originally made for a Russian airline but were sent straight to the boneyard after the sale fell through. Buuuuuut...even if you found four 747-8's out there they would be pretty unique airframes and cost a lot to support which is why....

It seems like it’s been such a dumpster fire to this point that I wish they’d just fire up a 707 assembly line again and pop out a few more airframes and parts. Fact of the matter is; when the jet works, it’s pretty dang good at what it does.

Nice idea, but it's been 30 years. The tooling isn't there. I'd expect something like a 737 or 767 variant now that Boeing is pumping them out for big DoD. The bigger idea of an E-4B replacement also taking on the E-6 mission is realistic.

I think a pretty good replacement for the E-4, Looking Glass and maybe even the E-6 mission would be the KC-46. While it hasn't exactly been a trouble free program much of the still unresolved issues revolve around the refueling mission and not the aircraft itself. It seemed like the USAF was planning to make it a baseline replacement aircraft for several missions from the beginning by adding extra wiring and other military-related mods to the aircraft to ensure it could take on extra mission equipment (distributed C4 stuff I believe). From there it would be much easier to missionize the aircraft from an already 'milspec' aircraft that has a big fleet in the USAF and outside as Boeing is still rolling civilian versions out as well for the cargo airlines.

There are a lot of -135 variants that will need replacing sooner or later and the KC-46 could easily replace them all, and then some.

 

[jmcquate]

One of the reasons from the guy I talked too for the C-130 was the modular configuration of the mission spaces.

 

[taxi1]

Nice thing about the C130 (I think) is that its slower speed would give a tighter radius turn and a better drooping antenna.