Tankers

Latest in Tankers

B-21 refueling requirements are pushing rethinking of tanker needs.
Air

B-21 Aerial Refueling Demands Further Point To It Being A Stealthy Flying Gas Can

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Mar 7, 2025

The Air Force will inspect all 89 of its KC-46A Pegasus aerial refueling jets after cracks were found on two set for delivery to the Military Delivery Center.
Air

Cracks In KC-46 Tankers Halt All Deliveries

By Howard Altman

Updated on Mar 1, 2025

The U.S. Air Force's force design director says analyses to date show the service will face more operational risk and be less able to achieve assigned objectives without a new crewed sixth-generation combat jet.
Air

Axing Next Generation Fighter Would Leave Air Force Worse Off: Force Design Boss

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Feb 26, 2025

The second tranche of U.S. Air Force Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drones could be between 20 to 30 percent more expensive per airframe than those in the first batch.
Air

Second Batch Of Air Force CCA Drones Could Be 20 To 30 Percent Pricier Than The First

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Jan 10, 2025

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have provided an even better look at the previously highly secretive remote vision system that is central to the operation of the Israeli Air Force’s critical Boeing 707 tanker fleet. TWZ has previously looked at this system — used by the boom operator to see what is happening at the rear of the aircraft while connecting the boom with the receiving aircraft — but the actual operator interface has, as far as we know, never been seen in such detail.
Air

Our Best Look So Far Inside Israel’s Once Secretive 707 Tankers

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Jan 7, 2025

Bill Kennedy, 436th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron transit alert, marshals a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III at Dover Air Force Base, Del., April 26, 2015. The aircraft is loaded with 69 members of the Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue Team, their supplies and equipment, and six K-9s, to assist Nepal with rescue operations after the country was struck by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake.
Air

New Jersey Base Confirms Multiple Past Drone Incursions… By Contraband Smugglers

By Thomas Newdick, Howard Altman

Posted on Dec 18, 2024

KC-135 AI Copilot testing
Air

KC-135 Tanker With Artificial Intelligence Copilot Set To Fly Next Year

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Nov 12, 2024

Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works advanced projects division has put forward a new vision for a stealthy pilot-optional aerial refueling tanker.
Air

Skunk Works’ Latest Stealthy Tanker Concept Revealed

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Nov 7, 2024

The future outlook for the U.S. Air Force's top modernization efforts is even more uncertain after the service's civilian boss openly questioned the affordability of buying any combination of new stealth 'fighters,' advanced aerial refueling tankers, and highly autonomous drones.
Air

Crisis Brewing Over Air Force’s Future Air Dominance Plans Which It Cannot Afford

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Nov 6, 2024

Aerial photo taken of MacDill Air Force Base on January 29, 2021. MacDill AFB includes 28 associate units from all brances of service to include U.S. Central Command, U.S. Special Operations Command and the 927th Air Refueling Wing. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Tiffany Emery)
Air

Hurricane Milton Could Be Sum Of All Weather Fears For MacDill Air Force Base

By Howard Altman

Posted on Oct 9, 2024

KC-10 Extender tail #86-0036 performs its final mission as it heads of to the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., following a July 13 ceremony at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., that marked the first retirement of 59 Extenders intended for eventual replacement by the KC-46A Pegasus. A total of three KC-10s from the Air Force’s Backup-Aircraft Inventory were congressionally approved for retirement during Fiscal Year 2020. As KC-10s are retired, the 309th AMARG will continue to support the remaining Extenders with spare parts as they are flown for several years while the KC-46A Pegasus is integrated into Air Mobility Command’s Total Force tanker enterprise. For nearly four decades, the KC-10 has helped secure global reach for America, providing in- flight refueling to U.S. and coalition aircraft, from Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm to Operation Inherent Resolve. The KC- 10 is flown from JBMDL by both the 305th AMW and its associate Air Force Reserve unit, the 514th AMW.
Air

Final KC-10 Extender Tanker Flies Into Retirement

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Sep 26, 2024

The U.S. Air Force is pushing ahead with experimentation that could lead to the transformation of KC-135 tankers into optionally crewed aircraft, as well as the development of other autonomous aerial refueling capabilities. U.S. military interest in autonomous airlifters, an area where China has been notably surging forward in the past few years, is also growing.
Air

Work Toward KC-135 Tankers That Fly Themselves, Uncrewed Cargo Aircraft Pressing Ahead

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Sep 18, 2024

The U.S. Air Force's still evolving requirements for a next-generation aerial refueling 'system of systems' will directly impact the service's reassessment of plans for a new sixth-generation stealth 'fighter.' The Next-Generation Air-Refueling System (NGAS) effort will also inform work on a second tranche of Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drones.
Air

Future Stealth Tanker Plans Tied To NGAD 6th Generation Fighter’s Fate

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Sep 16, 2024

The U.S. Air Force recently awarded contracts to two companies for work on SHARK 'buddy store' podded aerial refueling systems able to work with aircraft that use the boom method to get gas in flight.
Air

Aerial Refueling Boom Pods That Could Go On F-15s In The Works

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Sep 3, 2024

KC-46 and F-15E had an incident resulting in the loss of the tanker's boom
Air

Audio Reveals Details Of KC-46 And F-15E Refueling Incident That Broke The Tanker’s Boom Off

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Aug 23, 2024

A brief video clip of a U.S. Navy E-2D Advanced Hawkeye linking up with an Air Force HC-130J tanker somewhere over in the Middle East calls attention to how this aircraft has become even more of a force multiplier with the added ability to refuel in flight.
Air

E-2D Refueling From HC-130 Over Middle East Highlights The Hawkeye’s Potential

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Aug 7, 2024