The U.S.
continues to play a crucial supporting role for French air operations
against al Qaeda forces in Mali. France lacks the aerial tankers needed
to keep enough of its warplanes in the air over Mali. American KC-135
aerial tankers have so far (since last January) delivered over 3,000
tons of fuel to French warplanes, allowing for these aircraft to spend
hours more in the air, waiting for a request from troops below for a
smart bomb or missile. The American KC-135s are operating out of a base
in Spain.
French warplanes are delivering smart bombs to their troops
below, or African peacekeepers that have French air controllers with
them. As in Iraq and Afghanistan, the GPS or laser guided bombs were a
decisive weapon against the fanatical Islamic terrorists, especially
when these guys are trapped and willing to die in a hail of gunfire. But
that is dangerous for the attackers and it’s easier to blow the
fanatics up with a smart bomb or missile.
Despite having 14 KC-135 tankers of their own these are, like
the 400 the U.S. Air Force has, elderly and often out-of-service. France
has a dozen new A330 tankers on order. But they need more tankers than
they possess to sustain the vital air operations over Mali, so they
called in their ally the United States. Even the twelve new A330s would
not have been adequate to sustain the current French effort over Mali.
Most of the French warplanes fly in from France, largely because the
fuel supplies and maintenance facilities in Mali are limited. For
decades its been common for America’s European allies to depend on U.S.
aerial tankers in situations like this.
While a quarter of the American tanker aircraft are sidelined
because of age and maintenance needs, there are enough to sustain the
French operations. As these tankers are also used for many training
exercises and the movement of air cargo, it was not easy for the air
force to collect enough for the Mali operations. But the U.S. has so
many tankers that it had the flexibility to shuffle them around to keep
everyone in the air. That may not be the case in the future.
The elderly KC-135s are difficult to keep running, and many of
them still have to serve another twenty years until completely replaced
by the new KC-46A. Operating aircraft this old is unexplored territory
because this is the first time in history that so many large, and fast,
aircraft have gone on flying for so long. Commercial freighter aircraft
fly more frequently than their military counterparts, putting more
strain on them and forcing their operators to develop new maintenance
techniques the air force can use. The KC-135s are the oldest transports
the air force is still using, and keeping them working is proving to an
expensive and challenging effort.
The basic problem is that, despite constant maintenance and
careful monitoring, unexpected failures still occur with elderly
aircraft. Nothing that is cause for alarm but it is more expensive to
keep them flying and problems are more difficult to predict. Older
aircraft are grounded if any unexpected failure seems imminent. While
that just about eliminates these aircraft having fatal failures while in
the air, it also makes older aircraft less available for service. For a
long time it was considered more cost effective to keep the old birds
flying than to buy new ones. Eventually advanced age made replacement a
necessity, not an option.
After over a decade of effort the U.S. Air Force finally
managed select a replacement in 2011. The air force procurement process
has been cursed with corruption, incompetence, meddling politicians, and
litigious suppliers, all combining to prevent the acquisition of a new
tanker. The air force might order over a hundred KC-46As, but the exact
number depends on what kind of future aircraft the air force will be
using. If there are a lot of unmanned aircraft (UAVs), fewer tankers
will be needed (because UAVs are smaller and need less fuel).
The KC-46A is based on the Boeing 767-200 airliner. The 767
has been in service since 1982, and over 800 have been manufactured so
far. Boeing also developed the original KC-135 tanker in the 1950s, and
has since built over 2,000 of these. The Boeing entry was competing with
the A330 the French, and several other air forces are buying. Had
Boeing not been the home team, the air force may well have selected the
A330.
The KC-46A was selected partly because it is about the same
size as the KC-135 (wingspan is 50.3 meters/156 feet, 6.8 percent larger
than the KC-135). Thus the new tanker can use the same basing and
repair facilities as the 135. The KC-46A can carry up to 94 tons of fuel
(compared to 90 tons for KC-135). It can also carry up to 114
passengers or 18 cargo pallets or 58 patients (24 on litters).
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