Originally Posted by
TBM-Legend
The RCAF VIP A310 001 is not a tanker. They use others for VIP which are gray birds ...
For what its worth the Govt said our will all be tankers with one fitted for VIP....who knows what their Airships will do.
I guess there's two arguments. Dedicated aircraft like USA and Canada have a special livery and are obviously not 'normal' military so provide some protection from a misunderstanding say, when entering an area that is contested. For example, if the US President flew over the South China Sea it would be no problem. If his aircraft was painted in US grey and looked like a military asset it might get shot down in error. However, when visiting troops in Iraq or Afghanistan it surely raises the risk having that special livery as it looks like something the enemy might want to have a shot at???