Airforces - Typhoon school

http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #361 APRIL 2018 // 87

‘Tanker orbits

will be placed

as close to the

tactical operating

area as possible

to cut down

transit time for

the receivers, but

this needs to be

balanced against

the threats to the

more vulnerable

tankers’

The first, and the reason it was first

invented, was simply to extend the

range of aircraft so they could fly

further. Sir Alan Cobham was one

of the first to pioneer the technique

between the wars, as he sought

to stretch the reach of aircraft

across the globe. Nowadays,

a tanker on a trail mission can

escort smaller aircraft far further

than they could fly on their own

internal fuel load. For example,

four to six fighters can be ferried

across the Atlantic in one ‘hop’.

Black Buck

Perhaps one of the most famous

trail missions was the flight of

‘Vulcan 607’ on the Black Buck

One mission to attack Port Stanley

Airport during the Falklands War

of 1982. It took 11 tankers to

‘sling shot’ the Vulcan to the South

Atlantic and back. On long trails,

particularly those over hostile

or inhospitable territory, the aim

is always to keep the receivers

‘topped up’ with sufficient fuel to

reach an appropriate destination –

and running down to near-empty

before refuelling is never advised.

Range can also be extended for

long-range intercepts, such as

those flown by NATO aircraft in the

North Sea, where quick reaction

alert (QRA) fighters will be followed

by on-call tankers so they can

shadow longer-range bombers and

reconnaissance aircraft throughout.

The second reason is their use

Above: Heavyweight transports and surveillance aircraft also benefi t from
on-call tankers. Here a Royal Australian Air Force KC-30A MRTT refuels an
E-7A Wedgetail during an Operation Okra mission somewhere in the Middle
East, while an RAAF F/A-18F formates on the pair. CPL Brenton Kwaterski/
Commonwealth of Australia Left: A Royal Air Force mission system operator
monitors a No 3 (Fighter) Squadron Typhoon, taking on fuel off the port wing
of a Voyager tanker. North Sea tanker orbits are essential to ensure the RAF’s
quick reaction alert capability. Jamie Hunter

Above: A USAF C-17A pilot from the 732nd Airlift Squadron, 514th Air Mobility

Wing, closes in during refuelling with a KC-10A over the Atlantic in February.

The KC-10 carries more than 356,000lb of fuel – almost twice as much as the

KC-135 – making it the tanker of choice for transatlantic deployments. USAF/

Master Sgt Mark C Olsen Left: Tankers equipped for both probe-and-drogue and

boom refuelling meet the demands of providing fuel for coalition operations.

Here, MPRS-equipped KC-135R 63-8871 ‘D’ of the 351st Air Refueling

Squadron/100th Air Refueling Wing tops up a pair of Lakenheath F-15Cs over

the North Sea in April last year. Jamie Hunter