This story is available exclusively to Business Insider
subscribers. Become an Insider
and start reading now.Have an account? .
126th Air Refueling Wing/ Joshua Strang
"Fuel is a weapon."
James Dunnigan, author of How to Make Warexplains what this means for fighter pilots:
Essentially, if one aircraft has more fuel than another in combat, it can force its adversary into a situation where the disadvantaged pilot will crash with empty gas tanks.
"The rule of thumb is that the combat radius is one-third the distance an aircraft can fly in a straight line on a full load of fuel. This assumes a trip out and back, plus one-third of fuel for combat operations."
But the innovation of aerial refuel ling over the last century has modified this rule of thumb, so to speak.
Huge tanker aircraft take to the sky with gallons of extra fuel, ready for smaller planes to approach and replenish their tanks mid-air. Often, these tankers rescue pilots coming out of hostile airspace with depleted fuel supplies.
With air-to-air refueling, pilots can extend the combat radius of their planes, and more complex missions can be performed.
And they can take off with an emptier tank, which lightens the aircraft's load — and makes carrying extra bombs possible.
Aerial refueling is actually a patented innovation. It all began in 1921, as an invention by U.S. War Department engineer Alexander de Seversky. It's now practiced by air forces around the world, although the U.S. has the biggest aerial tanker fleet, using it to warfighters' tactical advantage.
Think of the plane that enables the military to respond anywhere in the world on short notice. It’s not a fighter jet — it's the tanker
Aerial refueling tankers and their crew are the quiet enablers of air power
Maj. Jen Moore, 1st Lt. Brent Smith and Master Sgt. Daniel Brown discuss their flight plans. Moore and Smith are KC-135 Stratotanker pilots and Brown is a boom operator assigned to the 126th Air Refueling Wing.
126th Air Refueling Wing/ Desiree N. Palacios
Ultramarine blue and Air Force yellow are the Air Force colors. Blue alludes to the sky, the primary theater of Air Force operations. Yellow refers to the sun and the excellence required of Air Force personnel. The globe with the stylized aircraft represents the unit's ability and requirement to provide air refueling anytime, anyplace, under any conditions twenty-four hours day or night. The olive branches symbolize the unit's contribution to the Air Force mission of maintaining peace.
