One thing to always keep in mind with military aircraft is that they don't have the same transponder requirements as civilian/commercial. They have the option to fly without squawking or squawk as a totally different aircraft. What you are seeing as a tanker could very well be a fighter jet. At any given time, you can bet there are at least twice the number of birds up than shown on the ADS-B maps.
Hadn't thought about it until I saw this, so you got me. Also, there was a tanker over the same airspace yesterday, the CAP "protecting" joepedo need gas every 20 mins.
I believe it's a tanker specifically used for refuelling the SR - 71?? If that helps? It's certainly running a refuel orbit, but interestingly not in a designated A2A refuel route?
I thought this was a T? as in KC 135T - and thought they were specially designed to refuel the SR-71 when in service. I don't know if the T specifically refuels any other air assets or if it's the normal KC -135 tankers?
The main difference between the "T" models and "plain" 135's is the engines capable of higher altitudes/speed and the ability to "dispense" a different fuel than they burn themselves. They can refuel just about anything depending what fuel they have on board.
One thing to always keep in mind with military aircraft is that they don't have the same transponder requirements as civilian/commercial. They have the option to fly without squawking or squawk as a totally different aircraft. What you are seeing as a tanker could very well be a fighter jet. At any given time, you can bet there are at least twice the number of birds up than shown on the ADS-B maps.
Its a refueling tanker. It's probably refueling planes that don't have their squawk on.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/02/01/navy-jets-performing-super-bowl-flyover-include-f-35-f-18-super-hornet.html
MQ-4C Triton flying south of Taiwan again: https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=ae5c76
Hadn't thought about it until I saw this, so you got me. Also, there was a tanker over the same airspace yesterday, the CAP "protecting" joepedo need gas every 20 mins.
I believe it's a tanker specifically used for refuelling the SR - 71?? If that helps? It's certainly running a refuel orbit, but interestingly not in a designated A2A refuel route?
Is the SR-71 always in the air?
The SR-71 has been out of service for some time.
No. I was saying unless something else has replaced it, it's the only reason a 135T would be up there?
The SR-71 has been out of service for some time.
Maybe whatever has replaced it is up over that area, as that's the only reason a T would be doing?
They refuel many different kinds of aircraft. In this case, because of the short loops, I'd bet fighters.
I thought this was a T? as in KC 135T - and thought they were specially designed to refuel the SR-71 when in service. I don't know if the T specifically refuels any other air assets or if it's the normal KC -135 tankers?
The main difference between the "T" models and "plain" 135's is the engines capable of higher altitudes/speed and the ability to "dispense" a different fuel than they burn themselves. They can refuel just about anything depending what fuel they have on board.
Thanks for that, I thought they had been changed within the fuel tanks to be able to refuel the SR - 71 a while back? Thanks again.
He/she still wasn't operating in a A2A area tho, but probably just fast air refuelling.