At present, there are only two kinds of strategic transport planes in the United States, the C5 and the C141, the latter with good performance, but the cabin width and height are poor; moreover, the fleets of both types of transport planes are facing a big problem: there are not many flight hours left for more than half of the flight, and the replacement models are still in the trial production stage, and even the test flight is estimated to have to wait until next year.

It will be the famous C17, but even if it is optimistic, it will take 3 years to enter service, which is still early.

The continental United States is more than 12,000 kilometers away from the Gulf region, and the US military has to rely on these two strategic transport planes with world-class performance but the life of the aircraft has begun to be old if the US military wants to quickly mobilize heavy troops.

If you want to knock Iraq down, then you can't have less troops on your side, 350,000 is obviously not enough, so you have to make up 500,000 anyway!

This counts......

Good guys, the vast majority of heavy equipment has to be transported by sea, but the part that needs to be delivered quickly, the US military has a tight number of strategic transport planes on hand!

Zhang Nan was listening to Thomas's report on the phone: the three C141s are the treasures of the "joint force", and they are also responsible for transporting special-sized goods to the major mining areas of the mining group.

If this is taken away by Washington, there is no certainty when it will come back!

“...... According to a friend in the Ministry of Defense, Central Command began to develop a military plan to defend Saudi Arabia a few months ago, and last month it conducted exercises according to the plan.

The exercise ended only a few days ago, but the boss, our friend said a very interesting situation: there was not a single expert in military transportation in the entire battle planning team. ”

This is a military secret, but to some "sources" such a secret is nothing special – with the exception of selling intelligence to Iraq, but the other side also knows that the "coalition forces" cannot get together with Iraq.

Thomas's tone was a little helpless, even a little gloating: as a veteran officer who participated in the Vietnam War, he was really a little speechless about the efficiency of the US Central Command!

However, Zhang Nan didn't laugh at the U.S. military, probably because his butterfly wings had a slight impact: it was only August 3 today, and the Air Force Military Airlift Command was worried about its own three strategic transport planes, which was already a "historic-breakthrough"!

Zhang Nan remembers a big joke in the world's military history in his previous life: As the protagonist of military transportation in the early days, the US Air Force Military Airlift Command did not learn through the television news on 7 August that Mr. President had officially ordered the dispatch of US troops to the Gulf.

Washington, D.C., Mr. President, the Department of Defense, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff have decided to engage in strategic transportation, but they have forgotten to notify the transportation department, or have forgotten for four or five days.

This time, at least on the second day of the outbreak of the war, Washington thought of the military department, otherwise the latter would not have notified the "combined forces", which is already good!

“... Now Washington's biggest concern is that Saddam Hussein will immediately attack Saudi Arabia, not to mention the issue of morale and combat effectiveness, Iraq has an overwhelming advantage over Saudi Arabia by 10 to 1 in terms of technical equipment and the number of troops, so the first batch of troops sent to the Gulf will be airlifted to Saudi Arabia.

At present, the active forces of the Air Force, the Air Force Reserve and the National Guard under the jurisdiction of the Military Airlift Command, plus the strategic transport aircraft of the civilian reserve, have a maximum of 126 C5A and 270 C-141B transport aircraft, which is not enough.

Plans have been made to enlist civilian airliners and transport aircraft for military use, and most of the personnel transport will use the conscripted civilian airliners.

And now the average flight time of the C-5 and C-141 in the Air Force has basically reached 80% of the design flight time, and our three are not bad, they cost a lot of money, and there are about sixty percent, so it's no wonder that those people don't worry about it. ”

At this point, Zhang Nan's brows furrowed, because he heard two words - conscription!

The "United Forces" is an American company, and when a war with the United States breaks out, if it is called up, unless it wants to fight against Washington, it will definitely not be able to keep those three C141s!

It's a call-up!

At this point, Zhang Nan said into the phone: "Our plane, is it called up or rented?"

"Boss, the rental is good, the money given is almost negligible, the big deal is maintenance, fuel is considered the army. ”

Hearing this, Zhang Nan said a few words of Huaxia Guo scolding "crackling" in his mouth, and Thomas on the other side also listened helplessly.

Agreed, and said into the phone: "Find a way to inform Alyosha that I want a transport plane, a big transport plane!"

If you can't buy it now, wait for the Soviet Union to be finished, and continue to think of a way for Lao Tzu!

If the name of the company does not work, we will use the Gambian government, and we must have a reliable transportation force!"

Thomas on the other side knows that the boss is unhappy, and he is still very unhappy!

He knew that his boss was not an American at all, and his relationship with the United States belonged to the level of "everyone living a good life".

Now the war that the United States is going to participate in will harm the interests of the boss, and of course he is not happy - the guys around this gang know that the boss has never regarded the United States as his homeland!

Thomas loved it, but he participated in the Vietnam War, and he actually hated the kind of war that happened thousands of kilometers away from his homeland.

Besides, the boss pays so many taxes to the United States in a year, and it never harms the interests of the United States, for Thomas, this is a good boss!

Now Washington has harmed the interests of the boss, and Thomas is also angry, very angry!

But it's no use being angry!

Because the other side is the United States of America!

In a military transport operation of this scale, the intensity of the use of strategic transport aircraft will be very strong, and things that are not one's own will not be cherished, and it is human beings who are virtuous.

This time, the three C141s of the "United Forces" not only have to be attached to the planes and crews, but also have precious and damn flight life!

Especially the thing of sticking to the crew, it is really a step that cannot be omitted, marrying someone else to borrow a luxury car, you have to smile and agree, and you have to match the driver for free.

Give the plane to someone else to fly?

That's worse!

Zhang Nan can be regarded as seeing through it, and bought Uncle Sam's plane, but at the critical moment, it was a matter of people's words.

In the future, they will have to buy transport planes, and they will not buy American goods: the C141 has a limited lifespan and was discontinued eight years ago; the C5 is not only purely military, but Washington still refuses to sell it.

As for the future C17, the British will only lease it after more than ten years, and a few other countries will buy one or two, such as Canada, which will not be possible to buy it until at least 15 years later.

There is a lot of trouble in the United States, what should I do?

Lao Tzu buys Maozi goods!

Thomas on the other end of the phone also knew why the boss would say something, and asked, "Boss, do you want Il-76 or Antonov?"

Hearing Thomas's words, Zhang Nan said: "Lao Tzu wants it!"