The US Air Force has assigned four KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft to Eielson AFB in Fairbanks, Alaska, to amplify its aerial refueling capability near the Arctic region.
The plan was first revealed in March 2021, which involved the redistribution of an active duty KC-135 fleet and “more than two hundred” active duty personnel to the Alaska Air National Guard’s 168th Wing “Guardians of the Last Frontier” unit at Eielson.
The movements support a 2019 blueprint by the Pentagon to address “new and emerging threats in the Asia-Pacific region.”
The first of four new KC-135s has already arrived at Fairbanks and joined the eight existing Stratotankers at the installation.
“The service determined that adding four KC-135s and establishing an active association at Eielson AFB would be the most efficient and cost-effective way to put an active duty presence at Eielson AFB’s tanker unit which will help balance day-to-day operations with the contingency capabilities inherent in the Total Force,” the air force wrote in its press release.
‘Strategic Imperative’
A report from Anchorage-based Alaska’s News Source noted that Alaskan Senator Dan Sullivan highlighted the importance of the KC-135’s integration in the northwestern state and cited the recent unauthorized flights of Russian and Chinese military planes over the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone.
“Look, we need more tankers,” Sullivan said. “We have over 100 5th-generation fighters in Alaska. What we lack are aircraft that can refuel these fighters in mid-air.”
“A thousand miles takes a couple tanking missions and we don’t have enough tankers in Alaska for that mission.”
“And if we ever had to surge forces to the Indo-Pacific for a conflict with Taiwan and with China over Taiwan or something else, all the Lower-48 aircraft are going to come right over Alaska. They will need tankers, so this is a strategic imperative.”
The KC-135 Stratotanker
American aerospace company Boeing designed the Stratotanker to fill the gaps in the US joint forces’ core aerial refueling capability.
Almost 400 Stratotankers are managed by the US Air Force’s Air Mobility Command, with about 200 units being flown by the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve.
The aircraft measures 136 feet (41 meters) and has a wingspan of 130 feet (40 meters). It has the capacity for up to 200,000 pounds (90,718 kilograms) of fuel as well as approximately 80 passengers or payloads weighing 83,000 pounds (37,648 kilograms).
It is powered by four CFM International turbofan engines for altitudes up to 50,000 feet (15,240 meters), a range of 9,500 nautical miles (10,932 miles/17,594 kilometers), and a top speed of 580 miles (933 kilometers) per hour.