aviation - the past, present and future of flight

I

t’s safe to say that if a USAF air operation

• a transit  ight, air exercise, training
  sortie or combat mission – happens over
  the Atlantic Ocean, Europe, Africa or
  much of Southwest Asia, Mildenhall’s 100th
  Air Refueling Wing is likely to have been
  involved at some point.
  Much of the wing’s work within USAFE is,
  of course, classi ed and isn’t made public,
  but given its extremely important strategic
  location, and being the theatre’s only
  dedicated US tanker force, the 100th is one of
  the busiest units in the USAF.
  The statistics back this up – at the time of
  writing in June, the wing has  own some 790
  missions, refuelled more than 2,300 aircraft
  and off-loaded in excess of 21,900,000lb
  (9,933,673kg) of fuel in the air during this
  Fiscal Year.
  The 100th Air Refueling Wing (ARW) was
  activated at Mildenhall in Suffolk on February
  1, 1992. It provides the critical air refuelling
  ‘bridge’ that enables the USAF to deploy

around the globe on a moment’s notice and

comprises the 100th Maintenance Group, the

100th Mission Support Group, and the 100th

Operations Group. Mildenhall is the only

USAF air eld open 24 hours a day in the UK.

The unit operates the Boeing KC-135R

Stratotanker, with around 15 aircraft being

permanently assigned for operations across

Europe and Africa with the 351st Air Refueling

Squadron (ARS). The ’135 was developed

from the Boeing 367-80, as was the 707

jetliner, and has been in service with the

USAF for more than 60 years. The  eet has,

of course, been upgraded over the years, and

has undergone extensive maintenance work

of the highest order to keep the aircraft in top

condition for such a long period.

The tankers are equipped with ‘ ying

boom’ system for air-to-air refuelling, which

is used when supporting USAF aircraft, or

NATO machines that are compatible with

the system, such as the Boeing E-3 Sentry.

Some of the unit’s KC-135s – normally two

or three – are  tted with a pair of multi-point

refuelling system (MPRS) pods on their outer

wings that enable fuel to be passed to aircraft

that use the probe-and-drogue system. This

gives the  exibility to work with forces such as

the RAF, the US Navy and Marine Corps.

SPEEDY AND SELF-SUFFICIENT

The 100th ARW is commanded by Colonel

Christopher R Amrhein, who took over from

Colonel Thomas D Torkelson on July 21, 2017.

Col Amrhein is a former KC-135 pilot and has

logged more than 3,100 hours in a variety of

aircraft during his career.

Soon after stepping into his new role

he explained that staff serving in the unit

need to be ready at a moment’s notice.

This is because unlike those stationed in

the US where bases are usually trained

and equipped to deploy and execute their

missions, the 100th ARW is already within

its deployed location, providing air refuelling

when called upon.

MILDENHALL

TANKER FORCE

The Mildenhall-based 100th Air Refueling Wing is a vital

unit at the heart of today’s USAF. Nigel Price examines

its workload, from medevacs to supporting major exercises.

USAF IN THE UK SPECIAL

42 Aviation News incorporating Jets July 2018

42-47_usaf_arwDC.mfDC.indd 42 07/06/2018 12:59