Aging Tankers Wasteful, Says GeneralFebruary 11, 2011
 The planes that will replace the Air Force's ageing refueling tankers will help make operations more efficient and save millions of gallons of fuel, a U.S. general told an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Gen. Duncan McNabb said that the old KC-135 tankers that first began service between 1957 and 1965 are wasteful and inefficient in several ways. For one, when the KC-135 tanker is done refueling cargo planes and jet fighters in the air, it must bring back all the remaining fuel to base, the National Journal Daily reported. “Those aircraft take fuel to the flight and bring it back,” McNabb said, adding that each tanker returned with an average of 30,000 pounds of fuel. The new tankers — regardless of which bid the Air Force finally accepts — will be able to transfer in midair the remaining fuel to the tanker assuming duty, according to the National Journal Daily. "If you can leave that fuel in the flight, you only carry it one time,” he said. McNabb estimates that the ability to transfer fuel in flight would reduce total fuel consumption tanker missions by 20% to 25%. “When you’re talking five million pounds of fuel a day, 20% to 25% is a lot,” the general said. The problem is that even if the Air Force picks the winning contractor today, it will be 20 years before the new tankers come into service. "How many years can I wait? Not any. We needed the tanker yesterday,” he said. Boeing and EADS are engaged in a contentious battle to replace the Eisenhower-era fleet of KC-135 tankers. In 2004, Boeing won a lease-buy deal but it fell apart under the weight of a conflict-of-interest scandal. Then in 2008, Northrop Grumman (in partnership with EADS) won a contract to build 179 tankers, but Boeing derailed that victory by protesting the award. The Air Force is now calling for finals offers and plans to award the contract in early 2011. (DoD photo by Senior Airman Christopher Bush, U.S. Air Force/Released) |
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