Why the U.S. needs a new tanker.

• Author: Lichte, Arthur I.
• Position: VIEWPOINT

Picture this: Two U.S. Air Force aerial refueling tankers explode while in the midst of in-flight refueling and crash near Honolulu, Hawaii.

According to witnesses from the ground, the two aircraft--a KC-135 and KC-10--drew the attention of onlookers when, on a local training mission, one of the planes suddenly shuddered, a flash was seen, and it appeared that the KC-135 exploded in midair. The ground observers stated that the KC-10, which was immediately aft of the KC-135, immediately became uncontrollable, wavered for a few seconds and then crashed into the ocean.

Initial analysis indicated that all personnel on both planes were killed. Air Force officials immediately assembled an accident investigation team and as a precautionary measure, grounded the entire KC-135 and KC-10 tanker fleet. For the next 24 hours or more, no U.S. Air Force tankers would fly anywhere in the world.

Although this is an imaginary scenario, it could happen.

Aircraft age and a history of wing corrosion issues, fuel tank explosions, and antiquated internal avionics systems all point to the real possibility that exists for a massive grounding of the refueling fleet.

Clearly the tanker fleet is an essential enabler for getting to the fight and fighting the fight. As one can imagine, the grounding of either tanker models would have a serious negative impact on our ability to prosecute air and ground operations everywhere we have military forces.

The consequences of having no air refueling capability would severely hinder our operations around the world. These capabilities include deployment support air refueling, air bridge air refueling, global attack air refueling, theater support air refueling (both combat air forces and mobility air forces), aero-medical evacuation, nuclear missions support, presidential airlift support, homeland defense support, joint missions and special operations air refueling.

In daily operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, our tanker sorties (more than 50 a day) directly support operations on the ground.

The nation needs a new aerial refueling tanker now. With tankers that are approaching 50 years old, we simply cannot afford to delay procurement any longer. Without a viable tanker fleet, the U.S. military would not have global reach capability. This force extension capability allows U.S. fighters, bombers, transports and reconnaissance aircraft to fly farther and longer, and reach destinations and targets that otherwise would be unreachable...