https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0Kg68swWB0
Welcome back to The Daily Aviation for a feature on the type of aircraft and operations it takes to keep the gigantic C-5M Super Galaxy airborne using aerial

https://www.airbase.no/tv/us-largest-aircraft-slowly-approaches-tiny-air-tanker-for-dangerous-aerial-refueling_1f1a4d676.html
US Largest Aircraft Slowly Approaches Tiny Air Tanker for Dangerous Aerial Refueling. ... for a feature on the type of aircraft and operations it takes to keep the gigantic C-5M Super Galaxy airborne using aerial refueling. Footage Credit: U.S. Air Force / U.S. Navy ,Derivative Work by The Daily Aviation ... 100th Air Refueling Wing: Tanker

https://www.popsci.com/technology/inside-air-force-refueling-mission-kc-10-tanker/
An inside look at how these old planes work—and how the tech underpinning the fleet is slowly evolving. An F-22 fighter jet flies near the refueling boom of a KC-10 tanker. Rob Verger / GoPro

https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2024/02/usaf-plans-stealthy-tankers-extreme-threat-areas/394199/
February 15, 2024. Air Force. Technology. AURORA, Colorado— Tomorrow's aerial tanking fleet will include some stealthy aircraft with "exquisite capabilities" that can fly into "extreme

https://simpleflying.com/aerial-refueling-tankers-us-air-force-guide/
The USAF fleet consists of four types of tankers: Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, McDonnell Douglas KC-10 Extender, Lockheed MC-130, and Boeing KC-46 Pegasus. In its massive fleet, the United States Air Force (USAF) currently operates four types of tanker aircraft for air-to-air refueling. Before we look at these four aircraft in-depth, let's first

https://www.forbes.com/sites/erictegler/2022/10/31/2-live-crewthe-air-force-flew-a-kc-46-refueling-mission-with-just-one-pilot-and-one-boom-operator/
The Air Force's newest aerial refueling tanker is a big ole' beast. Based on Boeing's BA +0.7% 767, the KC-46 Pegasus is 165 feet long and 156 feet from wingtip to wingtip. Last week, just

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2021/09/16/the-us-air-forces-next-tanker-must-be-small-stealthy-and-robotic/
The Air Force's huge fleet of aerial tankers—more than 400 KC-135s, 50 or so new KC-46s and around 40 KC-10s—keeps fighters gassed up on sorties that might extend across 5,000 miles or more.

https://www.airbase.no/tv/us-pilots-having-cool-conversations-with-tanker-operator-during-aerial-refueling_588334a25.html
Welcome back to The Daily Aviation for a feature on how the US Air Force refuels its multi-million dollar fighter aircraft thousands of feet above the earth. Footage Credit: U.S. Air Force / U.S. Air National Guard, Derivative Work by The Daily Aviation

https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/JIPA/Display/Article/3768313/fueling-a-superpower-reprioritizing-the-us-air-refueling-fleet-for-great-power/
US Air Force KC-135 and KC-10 air refueling tankers played a crucial role in facilitating multiple refueling events with F-111s during a round-trip mission from the United Kingdom to target sites in Libya. ... and expediting the procurement of the next generation of tanker aircraft. Strengthening the US tanker fleet will uphold a credible

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_military_aerial_refueling_aircraft
List of United States military aerial refueling aircraft. 1 language. ... The following is a list of United States military aerial refueling aircraft. Active. HC-130; KC-10; KC-130; KC-130J; KC-135; F/A-18E/F; KC-46; Planned. MQ-25; Retired. KA-3; KA-6D; KB-29; KB-50; KC-97; S-3; Cancelled.

https://breakingdefense.com/2023/09/what-the-future-of-aerial-refueling-looks-like/
As the U.S. Air Force celebrated 100 years of aerial refueling with Operation Centennial Contact, a KC-135 Stratotanker, nearest, KC-46A Pegasus, center, and a KC- 10 Extender fly in formation

https://www.hudson.org/national-security-defense/resilient-aerial-refueling-safeguarding-the-us-military-s-global-reach
1. Enhancing the capacity and robustness of the US military's aerial refueling surface architecture should be a top priority for the Department of Defense. Additional investments in Indo-Pacific airfields, bulk fuel storage and distribution, and defenses should be funded. Allocating an additional $633 million per year over the next 10 years

https://www.airforce-technology.com/features/tomorrows-tankers-the-future-of-aerial-refuelling/
Boeing is scheduled to deliver 179 KC-46 tankers to the USAF by 2027, at a reported cost of $43bn. They will partially replace its current fleet of KC-135 refuelling aircraft, which first entered service back in 1957. But, despite the excitement around KC-46, the tanker has been beset by technical difficulties.

https://simpleflying.com/us-air-force-kc-46a-tanker-modernization-delayed-wing-aerial-refueling/
KC-46A Tanker Modernization Program delayed again. According to the GAO report, the Air Force's KC-46A Tanker Modernization Program has been further delayed because of issues with delivering wing aerial refueling pods and issues with the boom. The report notes that the program has already been delayed by 76 months (over six years).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNgLRbKwqLk
Welcome back to the Daily Aviation for a new documentary video about the KC-135 Stratotanker, the US most famous aerial refueling aircraft and US Air Force's

https://www.defensenews.com/air/2021/05/21/the-air-forces-newest-refueling-tanker-to-get-gear-that-will-finally-allow-the-f-35-and-f-22-to-share-data/
May 21, 2021. A U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor and F-35A Lightning II fly in formation with the XQ-58A Valkyrie drone over an Arizona test range on Dec. 9, 2020. (Tech. Sgt. James Cason/U.S. Air Force

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_KC-135_Stratotanker
The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an American military aerial refueling tanker aircraft that was developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, alongside the Boeing 707 airliner. It has a narrower fuselage and is shorter than the 707. Boeing gave the aircraft the internal designation of Model 717 (number later assigned to a different Boeing aircraft).The KC-135 was the United States Air Force

https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD1107533.pdf
rod. report noted that "Aerial refueling is essential to global U.S. military operations;" highlighted the. KC-135 as "the backbone of the nation's tanker forces;" and identified a "broad agreement that. KC-46 schedule risk is a concern."26 It further recognized the KC-46 acquisition program will.

https://www.airbase.no/tv/amazing-footage-of-aerial-refueling-of-f-22s-and-f-35s_11386da82.html
A U.S Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker assigned to the 909th Aerial Refueling Squadron, Kadena Air Base, Japan, refuels fifth generation aircraft during RED FLAG-Alaska 22-3 over the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex, Alaska, Aug. 1, 2022. The F-35 is the most advanced fighter aircraft in the world.

https://www.airandspaceforces.com/article/0207tanker/
The 90-Year Tanker Saga. The United States Air Force operates 650 tanker aircraft—the largest aerial refueler fleet on Earth. The rest of the world has perhaps as many as 250 tankers, and, of these, 80 belong to the US Marine Corps. In short, the Air Force possesses a near monopoly on large-scale aerial refueling capability.

https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/13998/why-does-the-us-use-two-types-of-aerial-refueling
$\begingroup$ @jwenting Some -135s can be fitted with pods; it also supports a metallic drogue adapter on the end of the boom (which according to Wiki is even more of a pain to deal with than a regular drogue). The -10 doesn't even need underwing pods (although some can take them); it has a roughly-centerline hose-and-drogue built in. As for foreign forces, while foreign-built aircraft all use

https://simpleflying.com/top-tanker-aircraft-list/
The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is the United States Air Force (USAF)'s first jet-powered aerial refueling tanker, replacing the KC-97 Stratofrieghter. Designed and developed in the early 1950s, the type performed its first flight in August 1956 and entered service in June 1957. The aircraft was extensively used in the Vietnam War and other

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_refueling
A KC-135 Stratotanker refuels an F-16 Fighting Falcon using a flying boom. Aerial refueling, also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the tanker) to another (the receiver) while both aircraft are in flight. The two main refueling systems are probe-and-drogue, which is