NATO Air Policing operations

U.S. Air Force News

  • AF Week in Photos

    This week's photos feature Airmen from around the globe involved in activities supporting expeditionary operations and defending America. This weekly feature showcases the men and women of the Air Force.

  • AF Week in Photos

    This week's photos feature Airmen from around the globe involved in activities supporting expeditionary operations and defending America. This weekly feature showcases the men and women of the Air Force.

  • 100th ARW conducts first USAFE KC-135 hot-pit refuel

    “Hot-pit refueling” is another name for an engine-running refuel while the aircraft is grounded. This type of refueling is already performed on airframes such as the CV-22 Osprey, but until September 2020, had never been recorded on checklists or technical orders as having been performed on a KC-135

  • Prince Sultan AB boosts CENTCOM AOR refueling capabilities

    Just 48 hours before the KC-135 from the 349th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron left Al Udeid Air Base to conduct refueling missions in the region, the 378th ELRS was given a task: To develop, build and sustain a rapid refueling capability at Prince Sultan Air Base. That’s exactly what they did.

  • AF Week in Photos

    This week's photos feature Airmen from around the globe involved in activities supporting expeditionary operations and defending America. This weekly feature showcases the men and women of the Air Force.

  • AF Week in Photos

    This week's photos feature Airmen from around the globe involved in activities supporting expeditionary operations and defending America. This weekly feature showcases the men and women of the Air Force.

  • AF Week in Photos

    This week's photos feature Airmen from around the globe involved in activities supporting expeditionary operations and defending America. This weekly feature showcases the men and women of the Air Force.

  • AF Week in Photos

    This week's photos feature Airmen from around the globe involved in activities supporting expeditionary operations and defending America. This weekly feature showcases the men and women of the Air Force.

  • AF Week in Photos

    This week's photos feature Airmen from around the globe involved in activities supporting expeditionary operations and defending America. This weekly feature showcases the men and women of the Air Force.

  • AF Week in Photos

    This week's photos feature Airmen from around the globe involved in activities supporting expeditionary operations and defending America. This weekly feature showcases the men and women of the Air Force.

  • McConnell tankers enable first F-35 European deployment

    When the F-35A Lightning II deployed to Europe for the first time April 15, it was made possible by the backbone of the aerial refueling fleet, the KC-135 Stratotanker. “The mission of the 22nd Air Refueling Wing is to refuel the fight,” said Col. Albert Miller, the 22nd Air Refueling Wing

  • KC-46 completes required flight tests

    The successful A-10 mission was the last of six in-flight refueling demonstrations required before the tanker program can request approval from Frank Kendall, the under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, to award production Lots 1 and 2, totaling 19 KC-46A aircraft.

  • KC-10 serves 25 continuous years in CENTCOM

    For more than two decades, the KC-10 Extender has been refueling U.S. and coalition aircraft from an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia. This year marked 25 years of continuous operation for the aircraft from this location, and it is a vital piece in accomplishing U.S. Air Forces Central Command

  • Becoming a boom

    From an early age, Airman 1st Class Shelby Bowling, a 350th Air Refueling Squadron boom operator, had an idea of what she wanted to do when she grew up. It wasn't until midway through her time in college that life provided her an opportunity to take a chance.

  • KC-135 integral to F-16 training in Greece

    The first time the Air Force attempted to refuel an aircraft in flight, aircrews successfully stayed aloft for 151 hours. That was over 85 years ago, and the Air Force today has made quite a few innovations since then.

  • KC-135s surpass 100,000 combat hours

    The KC-135 Stratotanker fleet at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, flew more than 14,700 sorties in 2015 accumulating 103,419 combat hours in support of Operations Inherent Resolve and Freedom’s Sentinel.

  • Maintainers keep KC-135s flying downrange

    The 340th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Unit at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, maintains the largest KC-135 Stratotanker fleet in the world of more than 40 aircraft valued at roughly $2 billion.

  • Pegasus drogue, hose, boom systems deployed

    The KC-46A Pegasus notched another success this week when the systems at the heart of aerial refueling were demonstrated on EMD-2 with the deployment of both drogue systems and the boom.

  • Tech Report: The KC-46A Pegasus

    For over 50 years the KC-135 Stratotanker has been the Air Force's premiere in-flight refueling tanker -- but that's all about to change.

  • Fairchild, McConnell tankers fuel NORAD exercise

    A tanker task force assembled from the 92nd Air Refueling Wing at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington, and the 22nd ARW from McConnell AFB, Kansas, joined approximately 300 military personnel and 15 aircraft in exercise Amalgam Dart 15-2 May 26-June 1.

  • AMC to relocate KC-135 simulator to Pittsburgh

    As Air Mobility Command fields the KC-46A Pegasus, displaced KC-135 Stratotanker simulators are being designated for relocation to improve efficiency and effectiveness across the total force mobility enterprise by maximizing flying hour cost avoidance through improved simulator access.

  • What it takes to be a boom operator

    Boom operators on an Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker have the ability to pump thousands of pounds of fuel to any capable aircraft, thousands of feet above the ground, flying at 200 knots, all while only 47 feet from colliding into each other. However, before any of this is possible, they had to go

  • Fueling the Strike Eagle's fire

    The shimmering heat waves that emanate from jet exhaust, the rumble of twin Pratt and Whitney engines, the unmistakable aroma of pure Jet A fuel. The sights, sounds and smells of F-15E Strike Eagles in flight are made possible in part by the tireless efforts of a group of Airmen strategically placed

  • Fueling future training

    Tyndall Air Force Base is home to the world's largest F-22 Raptor fleet, and the only base that trains their pilots; but without the aircraft's maintainers, this impressive force could never take off from the ramp.

  • Joint force hot pitting saves time, money

    Airmen from the 366th Logistics Readiness Squadron petroleum, oil and lubricant flight here, recently work alongside the U.S. Navy Electronic Attack Squadron 129 (VAQ-129) to help develop and implement a "hot pit" refueling process for Navy EA-18G Growlers, which frequent the base.

  • Dover tail flash flies around the ‘Monster Mile’

    The Dover tail flash is blue, yellow, black and white, has the head of an eagle, depicts the Liberty Bell, proudly displays the name "Dover," and normally is only found adorning the tail section of Dover Air Force Base C-5M Super Galaxy and C-17 Globemaster III aircraft.

  • Altus AFB produces mission capable boom operators

    For the past 16 years, the 97th Air Mobility Wing has been the only schoolhouse for training initial KC-135 Stratotanker boom operator students, which trains around 265 Airmen and international students a year.