USAF should buy newly designed air refuelers to meet China threat: Report

Key Points:

• A Hudson Institute report highlights the US Air Force's need for significant investments to enhance its air refueling fleet, emphasizing infrastructure upgrades, advanced tankers with greater range, and improved mission systems to counter threats from China.
• The current KC-46 Pegasus tankers lack sufficient range, fuel offload capacity, and survivability, prompting recommendations to develop a medium-sized blended-wing body (BWB) tanker alongside the KC-46, potentially saving $15.5 billion compared to buying only Pegasus aircraft.
• Infrastructure improvements, including hardened fuel storage and airfield defenses, are critical to protect tankers from attacks, with estimated costs around $35.5 billion; this follows concerns raised by recent Iranian strikes on US aircraft.
• Upgrading tankers with enhanced connectivity and self-defense systems is also necessary, with projected expenses of about $13 billion, though budget constraints may require prioritization among these initiatives.
• The Air Force plans to buy up to 75 more KC-46s but is urged to limit this number and focus on developing next-generation tankers like the BWB, which could enter service around 2032, supported by ongoing demonstrator projects such as JetZero's BWB aircraft.