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Air Force

USAF Starting to Take Broad Look at Future KC-Z, As Doubt Cast on ‘Bridge Tanker’

Frank Wolfe Frank Wolfe
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USAF Starting to Take Broad Look at Future KC-Z, As Doubt Cast on ‘Bridge Tanker’
John Taylor, Air Mobility Command Museum director, recognizes aircrew from the 305th Air Mobility Wing and 32nd Air Refueling Squadron, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurt, N.J. at the retirement ceremony of a KC-10A Extender at the AMC Museum at Dover AFB, Del. on Apr. 26. The aircraft was the first of 60 Extenders that entered the U.S. Air Force inventory. The aircraft will become the 36th addition to the AMC Museum. (U.S. Air Force Photo)

The U.S. Air Force has started to examine the attributes of a KC-Z tanker, but it appears that the future of a KC-Y "bridge tanker" is in doubt. The KC-Y commercial derivative tanker could fill the gap between the fielding of the 179th Boeing [BA] KC-46 and the KC-Z. The KC-46 fleet and possible future tankers would replace more than 400 KC-135s and KC-10s in the coming decades. "Our plan for the tanker fleet is evolving over time, and we're…

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