- Reaction score
- 35
- Points
- 560
Probably some weird after effect of watching the leader's debate, but these thought occurred to me:
Replace the Polaris with Boeing 787 "Dreamliners". These are long range passenger/transport jets with huge improvements in fuel economy. Since their systems are far more modern, I suspect they will be much cheaper to operate and maintain as well.
As well, it seems there are lots of occasions we need to transport outsized equipment in a non tactical environment. Deploying DART comes to mind, but even staging flights of heavy equipment or large loads to just outside theaters of operation could probably be considered as well. The Polaris combi can only hold the same sorts of cargo as any other civil transporter, and a 787 combi or transport has the same considerations. Perhaps the CF can consider something along the lines of the "Beluga" transports that Airbus uses to ship airplane components to the central assembly facility in France. While I recognize that "Belugas" (or 747 air freighters for that matter) need special ground handling equipment to load/offload cargo, this is still cheaper and more available than more C-17's
Blue sky thinking
Replace the Polaris with Boeing 787 "Dreamliners". These are long range passenger/transport jets with huge improvements in fuel economy. Since their systems are far more modern, I suspect they will be much cheaper to operate and maintain as well.
As well, it seems there are lots of occasions we need to transport outsized equipment in a non tactical environment. Deploying DART comes to mind, but even staging flights of heavy equipment or large loads to just outside theaters of operation could probably be considered as well. The Polaris combi can only hold the same sorts of cargo as any other civil transporter, and a 787 combi or transport has the same considerations. Perhaps the CF can consider something along the lines of the "Beluga" transports that Airbus uses to ship airplane components to the central assembly facility in France. While I recognize that "Belugas" (or 747 air freighters for that matter) need special ground handling equipment to load/offload cargo, this is still cheaper and more available than more C-17's
Blue sky thinking