Sign In
Search
Air Force

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

Frank Wolfe Frank Wolfe
SHARE:
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…

Subscriber-only content. Please log in below.

Not a subscriber or registered user yet?

Please contact us at clientservices@accessintel.com or call us at 888-707-5814 (Monday – Thursday 9:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. and Friday 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. ET.), to start a free trial, get pricing information, order a reprint, or post an article link on your website.

Recommended

Air Force

Addition Of Production Lines For F-15EX Eyed By USAF, MQ-9 Follow-On In Works

Air Force

Rocket Lab To Design, Build And Operate Two GEO Satellites For Space Domain Awareness Under $90 Million Contract

Air Force

Space Force Soliciting Industry Prototypes For $783 Million Program To Upgrade Ground-Based Radars

Air Force

U.S. Special Operations Command Budget For OA-1K Drops From 62 To 53 Planes

Trending

Space Force Awards Viasat And Intelsat General $438 Million For Continued Work On PTS-G
Defense Watch: Sub Deal Soon, Mach Buy, THAAD Investment, CUAS Marketplace
DoD Opens $30 Million Prize Challenge For Autonomous Non-Tactical Vehicles
YFQ-42A Dark Merlin Resumes Flight Tests for CCA Program
Coast Guard Plans R&D Effort With Lockheed Martin To Assess HPMs To Stop Small Boats

Congress Updates

Navy/USMC

Senators Push Navy Against Single Destroyer Request In FY ’27

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and the two senators from Maine last week pushed back on Navy officials for only requesting one Arleigh Burke-class destroyer (DDG-51) […]

Navy/USMC

Navy Looks To Eventually Assemble Battleship At HII Newport News; Faces More Dem Opposition

The Navy told lawmakers this week it found a dry dock at HII’s [HII] Newport News Shipbuilding shipyard it thinks can use for final assembly of the new Trump-class battleship […]

Navy/USMC

Navy Leaders Downplay Looking At Foreign Navy Shipbuilding Amid Lawmaker Objections

The Navy’s top leaders this week seemed to downplay and back down on the service potentially using foreign shipyards to build U.S. Navy ships or buying foreign designed warships overseas […]

Army

Senate Defense Appropriators See ‘Risk’ With Army’s Reconciliation Plan To Fund Munitions Increase

The Senate’s top defense appropriators cited concern this week with the Army’s request to fund the majority of its large increase to munitions procurement in fiscal year 2027 through the […]

The Force Multipliers

Force Multipliers

Michael DiOrio – Dataminr

Force Multipliers

Arne Brinck – Dark Wolf Solutions

Force Multipliers

Jags Kandasamy – Latent AI

Force Multipliers

Force Multipliers – Krista McKendree

Job Feed

Post a Job // Post a Resume