He said: “My aim is to make sure we’re as
ready as we can be. Every airmen needs
to be ready in this theatre at any hour, every
single day.”
In addition to its air-to-air refuelling
work, the 100th also carries out several
other roles. The 100th Operations Group’s
Senior MSgt Lee Adkins outlined one the
wing’s more surprising duties: aeromedical
evacuation (AE).
“I wouldn’t say we get tasked with carrying
out medevac ights often, but they are
common enough for us to train for them
at least once a month with our partners at
Ramstein [AFB in Germany]. We performed
one recently which took us to Nairobi, which
is a little bit different for us, since we don’t
typically y in there.
“From a crew standpoint, there’s a lot of
study that goes into ying into an unfamiliar
air eld, but on an AE mission its important
because somebody needs our help to get
them to a larger facility to take care of them,so we’re pleased to be able to help out. It’s
another role the tanker can play, and we can
get there fast – certainly quicker than aircraft
such as the C-130.”
The KC-135 can also carry a sizable
amount of cargo, up to 83,000lb (37,648kg)
depending on how the aircraft is con gured.
Senior MSgt Christopher Neldner of the
100th Maintenance Group explained: “We
can move cargo, but it’s not a primary role for
us, but the capability exists. More typically
we use it to move our own cargo, so that if
we are deploying away, we don’t have to rely
on another unit coming in and picking our
equipment up for us. The ability makes us
more self-sufficient and able to be deployed
wherever we’re needed quickly.” The KC-135
can also carry up to 37 passengers.ELITE TANKER FORCE
The unit’s primary focus within USAFE is air-
to-air refuelling, and it’s kept constantly busy.
Looking back over the past year, the largenumber of types and air forces/units the wing
has supported is impressively high.
On September 27, 2017, for example,
KC-135s assigned to the 100th ARW
refuelled a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress over
the Mediterranean. The bomber was on a
long-range training ight from Barksdale
AFB, Louisiana, and part of the mission
was releasing inert ordnance while ying in
controlled airspace areas of the Netherlands
and the UK. The 100th also supported
B-52s from the 5th Bomb Wing based at
Minot AFB, North Dakota, in January this
year. The Stratofortresses had deployed to
the UK to conduct theatre integration and
ying training.
September and October last year proved
to be particularly busy for the wing, with two
tankers deploying to Naval Station Rota in
Spain to y in support of Operation Juniper
Micron (OJM), the largely French campaign
over Mali and North Africa ongoing since- The USAF routinely rotates aircraft
http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 43Above: Lt Gen Richard M Clark (left), 3rd Air
Force commander, handing over command
of the 100th Air Refueling Wing to Col
Christopher R Amrhein during the official
ceremony on July 21, 2017. USAF/Airman 1st
Class Luke Milano
Left: A Mildenhall-based 100th ARW
KC-135 refuelling a Lakenheath F-15C,
while another example awaits its
turn on the tanker. Jamie Hunter42-47_usaf_arwDC.mfDC.indd 43 07/06/2018 12:59