100 years of air refueling, global reach 

One hundred years ago, on June 27, 1923, Airmen flying a pair of lumbering DH-4 biplanes proved that the impossible was possible. After fuel proved the culprit for limiting time in flight, these Airmen connected their aircraft together with a gravity hose, something just a little larger than a garden hose, and transferred 75 gallons of fuel. This successfully completed the first aerial refueling.  

While that moment a century ago is easy to miss, it continues to live large today as it set the course for aerial refueling, a capability that shifted history and remains an essential necessity for today’s military aircraft and the defense of our nation. 

The tanker fleet has been entwined in nearly every military operation, including notable examples such as Operation Eldorado Canyon, Operation Nickel Grass, and Operation Desert Storm. It enables U.S. Strategic Command’s strategic deterrence mission and supported the evacuation of 124,000 people out of Afghanistan. Think of any major military operation and there’s a very good chance the U.S. Air Force’s air refueling aircraft were involved. 

The tanker fleet remains essential to United States’ ability to project power, to protect the homeland, and maintain strategic deterrence that has brought stability for generations among the world’s powers. Effective and fail-safe aerial refueling is also instrumental in our global strike capability, rapid global mobility, and coordinated Joint Force and coalition efforts. 

Moving to the future, there is an increased need for refueling. As our attention moves to the Pacific, it is clear America’s air refuelers will continue to play a critical role. The vastness of water and distance means our tankers are involved in every bomber task force mission and fighter movement. We are continuously improving interoperability with allies and partners and ensuring our collective fighters and bombers are able to reach any location required of them. 

Next month, Air Mobility Command’s tankers and airlifters will take flight in the Indo-Pacific region for Exercise Mobility Guardian 2023, AMC’s largest full-spectrum readiness exercise in the command’s history. The exercise aims to understand and overcome the tyranny of distance to deliver the mobilization, deployment, and sustainment functions that the Joint Force and allies and partners depend on to respond to challenges worldwide. The exercise will also serve as the “cohesive glue” for a series of exercises occurring across the Indo-Pacific this summer.  

Even with our unparalleled record and proven performance, we cannot rest. 

The Air Force is preparing the future tanker fleet to operate in a more dynamic strategic environment. Department of the Air Force Secretary, Frank Kendall, announced in March that the Air Force will prioritize its air refueling capability modernization through the uninterrupted recapitalization of legacy tankers while accelerating capability studies to determine our Next Generation Air-refueling System (NGAS) needs.  

The KC-135, backbone of our tanker fleet, first flew less than 33 years after that initial demonstration of air refueling. It still fuels the freedom’s fight seven decades later, and will continue, thanks to the dedication and efforts of our maintainers. It is time, however, to bring air refueling into the future. The next 100 years begins now, and we should use this historical moment to reinvigorate that pioneering spirit, challenge the status quo, and reimagine what fueling the future fight looks like.  

In the near term, we are working to incorporate autonomy, the modern capability already developed by American industry, reducing risk to crews and extending the tanker’s reach. But we should also think more radically. Data is fuel in an information age, and tomorrow’s tankers must provide it as well, in quantity, over long distances, in contested airspace.   

It is critical our tanker fleet is not just connected; it also must be survivable and adaptable to a changing future. The NGAS Analysis of Alternatives seeks innovative industry solutions to fulfill the future fight’s most stressing and complex air refueling mission requirements and inform the long-term force design. 

The next chapter, the next century of air refueling, holds immense potential to change the way we project and sustain freedom in the air domain. With bold, new thinking we can unlock innovative capabilities and seize the opportunity to shape the future of air refueling. The time to act is now, to ensure this indispensable component of our military strategy continues to push boundaries and deter adversaries.   

The Mobility Air Forces’ success is non-negotiable and non-transferable, and the implications of a less-than-fearless and less-than-first-class MAF are severe. We fully understand the magnitude of responsibility that rests on our shoulders, and we will deliver what is required to serve our fellow allies and partners and preserve our nation’s sacred peace, prosperity and prestige.  

Mike Minihan is the commander of U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command, which provides airlift, air refueling, aeromedical evacuation, global air mobility support, and presidential and senior leader air transport in support of national interests. The command serves as U.S. Transportation Command’s air component, executing the air mobility mission in support of the joint force, allies and partners with a fleet of nearly 1,100 aircraft.