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Concerned about growing threats to the U.S. Air Force’s manned refueling aircraft, the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) has asked the service to explore alternatives, including optionally unmanned tankers.According to a newly released report explaining the committee’s fiscal year 2019 defense authorization bill, the Air Force’s existing KC-135 Stratotanker and its new KC-46A Pegasus, which are both manned, are “large, high-value aircraft,” making them “increasingly difficult to protect.” As a result, the committee added $10 million "to prototype a contested-environment tanker.” “The…
