Tanker (aircraft)

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A tanker is an aircraft used for in-flight refuelling.

Typically used by an air force for refuelling smaller, shorter-range aircraft, tanker are usually converted transport aircraft.

Tankers transfer fuel with either a rigid "boom" or a flexible hose. The former system is preferred by the United States Air Force and the latter by the Royal Air Force (RAF). With the "boom" system, the fuel boom is inserted into a receptacle on the receiving aircraft. With the "hose" system, the receiving aircraft has a refuelling probe which the pilot must manoeuvre into contact with the end of the hose, which usually had a basket structure on its end. For maximum flexibility, tanker aircraft may have both "boom" and "hose" systems.

Air to air refuelling is a complex business but confers significant tactical/strategic advantages (increased range; avoiding the need to land to refuel). For this reason, tanker aircraft are valuable military assets and may be referred to as force multipliers. They would not normally operate on the front line of combat operations, but in safer rear areas.

The US Air Force uses the KC-135 Stratotanker and KC-10 Extender. The US Marine Corps uses KC-130 Hercules aircraft. An exception to the rule involving transport aircraft is found with the US Navy, which had previously used a converted ground attack aircraft model (the KA-6) for operating off its aircraft carriers. It currently uses modified S-3 Viking anti-submarine warfare aircraft, which will be replaced in the tanker role by the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter when it is retired. The Viking and Super Hornet use what is called a "buddy store," a jettisonable fuel tank modified with a "hose"-type refuelling system. It is a removable store, which means the aircraft can be easily converted from tanker to combat use.

The Russian Air Force uses the Ilyushin Il-78 and modified Tupolev Tu-16s as tanker aircraft. The Russian Navy uses buddy stores for its Sukhoi Su-33 naval fighters.

The RAF is currently using a mixture of the BAe Vickers VC10s and the Lockheed TriStar. The Royal Navy also rely on the RAF tankers when their aircraft require aerial refuelling. In the near future the RAF are looking to replace their current aircraft with the Airbus A330 MRTT tankers under the PFI arrangement.

The RAAF currently operate the Boeing 707 and is going to replace these aircraft with the Airbus A330 MRTT.

Another Airbus, the A310 is in use as a tanker/cargo aircraft for the Luftwaffe. It is known as the A310 MRTT (multi-role tanker/transport)

The Boeing 767 is being used as the basis of a future tanker, the KC-767 for the Italian Air Force (AMI) and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF).

[edit] Popular culture

In the film Air Force One, a US Air Force KC-10 Extender refuels the hijacked Presidential aircraft, "Air Force One", a specially converted Boeing 747.