"tranch[e]"

[Joel S. Berson]

At 4/4/2007 03:59 PM, James A. Landau wrote:
>"Tranch" is in use in the US Air Force, as in "the next tranch of
>the F-18 fighter plane".

What does that mean?  A slice of a fighter plane?  An installment of
a fighter plane?  What's wrong with "next version"?  Or the
technospeak "next release"?

BTW, "tranch" appears only to be a verb in OED2, "To carve (a
sturgeon or other fish)".

Joel

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