Gotta be cheaper than buying new planes which would also have new engines. Generally there needs to be a pretty substantial increase in capability before it’s worth retiring an existing platform, especially in a logistics role where you don’t get as much benefit from the bleeding edge because nobody’s supposed to be shooting at you in the first place.
You need new electronics for the new engines, new training for the new handling, etc etc. The cost difference to existing cargo planes that are already in service is becoming less and less. This could easily be a case of being penny wise and pound foolish.
Well they upgraded all the engines at some point. I don’t know the cost breakdown between engines vs frame but I don’t think it’s good.
Gotta be cheaper than buying new planes which would also have new engines. Generally there needs to be a pretty substantial increase in capability before it’s worth retiring an existing platform, especially in a logistics role where you don’t get as much benefit from the bleeding edge because nobody’s supposed to be shooting at you in the first place.
You need new electronics for the new engines, new training for the new handling, etc etc. The cost difference to existing cargo planes that are already in service is becoming less and less. This could easily be a case of being penny wise and pound foolish.