86 // APRIL 2018 #361 http://www.airforcesmonthly.comColumn Commander’s Update Briefing
n any given day, the US
Air Force’s Air Mobility
Command passes a daily
fuel offload equivalent in volume to
30 seconds of water flowing over
Niagara Falls. Currently, in terms
of fixed-wing military aviation, only
unmanned aircraft aren’t routinely
refuelled in mid-air, but trials for
drones are beginning in earnest,
and there’s growing potential for
unmanned tankers, too. Even
tankers can receive fuel from other
tankers, and today’s air operations
are increasingly shaped, constrained
and enabled by the refuelling
resources at hand. Indeed, one of
the first outputs that emerges at
the beginning of an air campaign
is the tanker plan – these ‘flying
gas stations’ are, quite simply, the
lifeblood of modern air operations.
Air refuelling has obvious benefits.It is almost impossible
now to imagine
modern air operations
without the support
of airborne tankers
providing vital fuel to
almost every type of
military aircraft. Air
Power Association
President, Air
Marshal (Ret’d) Greg
Bagwell CB, CBE
examines the key
role played by aerial
refuelling in today’s
coalition-focused
environment.Fuelling
t h e fi g h t
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