My guess: You can remove the tires for flight, paint adds weight and I don’t see the Russian army scraping off the current paint without fucking up the primer/anti corrosion layer.
In the case of strategic bombers, anti-flash white is a key feature to reflect as much of the thermal pulse of a nuclear detonation as possible; theoretically you want these planes to survive the apocalypse that they’re unleashing to return to base and do it again.
Light paint keeps the heat away, so it’s the default. Plus, this entire kerfuffle has been a matter class in lack of planning. They never thought they would need it, so why bother painting 50+ year old planes another color.
My guess: You can remove the tires for flight, paint adds weight and I don’t see the Russian army scraping off the current paint without fucking up the primer/anti corrosion layer.
Are the planes not already painted? Why not just paint them grey to begin with?
In the case of strategic bombers, anti-flash white is a key feature to reflect as much of the thermal pulse of a nuclear detonation as possible; theoretically you want these planes to survive the apocalypse that they’re unleashing to return to base and do it again.
Light paint keeps the heat away, so it’s the default. Plus, this entire kerfuffle has been a matter class in lack of planning. They never thought they would need it, so why bother painting 50+ year old planes another color.
Me, gesturing broadly at the massive weight of all these tires
Which is why i said they could easily be removed for flight…