Today Air Force senior leaders are asking all Airmen for suggestions on a name for the service's newest tanker aircraft, the KC-45A.
"I've asked that we seek our Airmen's help to find a name for the KC-45," said Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne. "I prefer the name emphasize our heritage or our future horizon, but I'm most interested to see what our Airmen suggest."
As the future operators of the KC-45A, Air Mobility Command officials gathered many good suggestions from personnel in their units. Those submissions will be on the list of names considered during final selection. However, the opportunity to submit proposed names is now open to all Air Force personnel. Until May 30, active duty, Guard and Reserve Airmen, as well as Air Force government civilians, can submit their suggestions to namethetanker@pentagon.af.mil.
We at Tanker War Blog think that naming a plane when the contract is still in protest is a bit premature to say the least. But, we will hold our own informal contest for naming the EADS KC-30. All Airmen and the general public can send their entries to tankerblog@gmail.com.
Suggested names must be brief, no more than two short words. Along with the suggestion, entrants must include a brief explanation for their idea.
All entries are due by 30 May, and TAnchorman will post the best submissions on 1 June. He will also periodically provide contest updates on his site here.
The comments section for this post has been closed so please visit TAnchorman's site if you have input.
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13 comments:
Premature and potentially embarrassing if the award gets overturned by either the GAO, the Congress, or the next administration / Congress. N.G. would be wise not to jump the gun here.
NG would be wise to proceed with plans, June 19th is coming fast. Boeing should be worried about it's future and the fall out of the distorted facts it's spouting.
I've got a suggestion for the EADS A330 MRTT: How about the Air Force gives it a name that reflects what it is?
Presenting the new EADS A330 MRTT, codename: FLYING DEATH TRAP.
As today's moderator, I'd like to mention two things before the naming contest gets out of hand. First, the rules state only two words. So while you may feel "Flying Death Trap" is an accurate description, it not eligible for consideration. Second, please keep the names in good taste and in the spirit of good humor. Also, subit your suggestions directly to our e-mail, not the comments section.
Sincerely,
Tanker War Blog
Here are some more ideas:
http://www.militarytimes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1564617&highlight=tanker
What about "flying frog"?
how about scarebus
Some good news: you’ve been assigned to the C-45 (that’s right, C. It’s a C because its primary role is ‘crap hauler’ and not tanker).
You know you’re a C-Quarante-Cinq (45) boom operator when:
1. Your box lunch comes with wine and brie.
2. Your airplane constantly wants to TURN AWAY from the fight.
3. You believe life is ennui.
4. You smoke a pack of cigarettes before you toss your scarf around your neck and board your gigantic airplane.
5. You absolutely must eat crepes for breakfast when TDY.
6. You know every instruction concerning the proper loading and carriage of cargo but haven’t air refueled anything for the last six months.
7. You no longer have to go TDY because your gigantic airplane can’t land anywhere close to the fight.
8. You wonder why the vision system so poor on the CK-45 and then realize it’s to prevent you from seeing all the damage you’re causing to receivers while trying to fly a boom that weighs as much as a bus.
9. Why is the CK-45 being assembled in the South? It’s closer to New Orleans, beignets, and native French-speakers.
10. It can carry 30% more escargot than competing aircraft.
11. You secretly want to visit Toulouse, France to see where your ‘baby’ was born.
12. You have 12,000 flying hours, all of it orbiting while waiting for someone to take some of your gas.
13. You could care less about American jobs because you’re on the taxpayer’s dime (until you retire, of course).
14. John McCain and Ron Sugar (Daddy) are your role models.
15. You think the transition to ATP-56(B) has been the greatest boon to air refueling since the invention of the flying boom because NATO’s air refueling experience far surpasses anything upstart American’s have been doing.
16. You love any vehicle whose name contains the word ‘bus.’
17. You’re issued a large, white flag in the event your less survivable airplane lets you down in foreign lands.
18. You know every nurse in the USAF, because to carry the number of patients the C-45 can purportedly carry on a medevac mission, you’d need every nurse in the USAF just to attend to them.
Sugar Daddy very cute... When a US Corporation's CEO, COO, and CFO set a high standard of ethics for themselves and 125,000 employees and leads be example they call it Northrop Grunnan.
Apparently, though, they don't value grammar and spelling at Northrop Grumman. OK, sorry about the ad hominen jab. Seriously, though, before you declare the Northrop Grumman Corporation innocent as a lamb, please read:
http://pmddtc.state.gov/Consent_Agreements/2008/Northrop_Grumman_Corporation/Order.pdf
and:
http://www.contractormisconduct.org/index.cfm/1,73,221,html?ContractorID=42
None of these large corporations are "spotless." The actions of the few can damage an entire company.
Seems as though some of our moderators have allowed these comments to drag on, but today we are closing the comments for this post. All further naming submissions sould be sent to our e-mail and TAnchorman will post updates and results of the contest on his blog.
Sincerely,
Tanker War Blog
I am a British Air Refueling pilot with over 1000 hours on the KC10 as well. Throughout the KC-X competition there has been an apparent anti-French rhetoric from anyone remotely preferring the Boeing offering, which has nothing to do with the capabilities of specific airframes. I understand how the American people might be upset with the French government not committing their armed forces to the GWOT, but I don't see how such opinions could carry any weight in the debate on the better aircraft.
The anti-French sentiment is also misplaced; perhaps the American people are swayed too much by the media, perhaps they have short memories. But, dare I say that had the French not landed 5 battalions of infantry and artillery in Rhode Island in 1780, then there would have been no choice - you'd have been getting whatever Her Majesty decided.
I won't say which aircraft I prefer, but politics should have nothing to do with the selection of the best equipment for the job.
Dear RAF pilot,
We will not comment on the anti-French thing because as our favorite British character would say, "That's not our bag, baby."
But we have to say your middle paragraph is a riot; especially your line of "perhaps they have short memories". Sorry to break it to you, but most people in the US, except Shirley McClain, don’t have memories that date back to 1780. Also, the UK doesn't include Canada, South Africa or Hong Kong as possessions anymore, so even in a parallel universe we dare say we don’t think we would be bowing to the Queen in 2008. Heck, only though some very heroic action by your Navy and Marines do you still have the Falklands.
But, if you really do have memories of the Revolutionary War we all wish you would have piped up earlier and been a technical advisor on the set Mel Gibson's The Patriot; because historically it was an abomination. Also, it was a bit too anti-British for us.
Sincerely,
Tanker War Blog
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