Roadmap outlines tanker fleet changes

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. A.J. Bosker
  • Air Force Print News
WASHINGTON --  The Air Force released a plan June 18 outlining the retirement of the remaining 133 E-model KC-135 Stratotankers and the proposed integration of the 100 KC-767A tankers it is leasing from Boeing.

Through the “tanker roadmap,” the Air Force is laying out the initial stages of tanker recapitalization which run through 2017, according to Col. Scott E. Wuesthoff, chief of the Air Force global mobility division at the Pentagon. The changes are critical because the average age of the service’s KC-135 E-model tanker is more than 43 years old, he said.

“These Eisenhower-era aircraft are the oldest combat weapons systems in the inventory and have been experiencing ever-increasing maintenance costs and serious corrosion problems, which equate to decreasing availability and less bang-for-the-buck,” he said.

The KC-767s have greater range, carry a larger payload and more passengers, can be aerially refueled and can refuel any type of receiver aircraft with either boom or drogue, Wuesthoff added.

“(The KC-767) is also capable of taking off at maximum gross weight from approximately 1,000 more runways around the world than the KC-135, allowing the warfighter numerous options and increased flexibility,” he said. “The Air Force gains both capability and availability.

“Ensuring we have a robust air refueling force enables us to protect our homeland, conduct combat operations worldwide and provide humanitarian relief around the world,” Wuesthoff said. “We’re an aerospace nation, and our tankers allow us to do things no other nation in the world can do. They’re an essential part of the overall global mobility equation.”

As part of the roadmap, Air Reserve Component units at the following locations will convert from E-model to R-model KC-135s: Salt Lake City International Airport; Bangor IAP, Maine; Pittsburgh IAP; Forbes Field, Kan.; McGhee-Tyson Air National Guard Base, Tenn., McGuire Air Force Base, N.J.; Scott AFB, Ill.; Sioux City ANGB, Iowa; Beale AFB, Calif.; Phoenix Sky Harbor IAP; and Selfridge ANGB, Mich.

“As we retire the E-models from the Air Reserve Component, we’ll standardize the number of primary aircraft assigned to a squadron -- eight R-model KC-135s for the ARC and 16 for the active duty,” Wuesthoff said.

Fairchild AFB, Wash., will be the first active-duty base to receive KC-767s when it begins the transition from KC-135 R-models to the new tanker in fiscal 2006. Upon completion of the tanker force structure movements in 2010, Fairchild will have 32 767s. The Air Force plans to pump up to $200 million of military construction into Fairchild to prepare it for the new KC-767. Fairchild’s ANG squadron, which has eight R-model tankers, will be unaffected by the active-duty changes.

The active force at McConnell AFB, Kan., will lose 18 of its 48 aircraft in 2004 and 2005 before it begins adding to the fleet to peak at 64 active-duty tankers. In addition, McConnell is slated to retain eight of the nine R-model ANG aircraft, giving it a total of 72 tankers overall, justifying its “super-wing” designation.

The ANG at Forbes Field will drop two of its 10 E-models in 2004 and switch to all R-models by 2006.

Grand Forks AFB, N.D., is slated to begin its transition from 48 R-models in 2005 and eventually gain 32 of the 767s by 2009. This move also adds up to $176 million in military construction.

MacDill AFB, Fla., is slated to give up its 12 R-model tankers by 2010 and receive 32 of the 767s by 2011. Military construction as a result of the transition may reach up to $200 million.

Finally, Robins AFB, Ga., will be the last base to deplete its tanker inventory; the base will not receive new tankers, but this action will make way for future missions.

“This is really only the first step in the recapitalization of the fleet,” Wuesthoff said.