Within January 2026, the United States deployed F‑15E Strike Eagles from the 494th Fighter Squadron at RAF Lakenheath toward ...

The KC-46A is a larger aircraft from start to finish, being bigger, carrying more fuel, carrying it further, and carrying out more missions.

This marks the first publicly acknowledged instance of a U.S. Air Force KC-135 tanker refueling a Russian-made Su-30MKM aircraft. A KC-135 Stratotanker assigned to the 141st Air Refueling Wing, ...

Real-time flight data is critical to progressing the design, integration, and eventual flight demonstrations of the Merlin Pilot, in addition to informing the planned Next Generation Air-Refueling ...

The KC-135 was used to expand tactical communications across joint and combined forces for contested, multi-domain operations, and is now testing the High Value Airborne Asset Pod. The Air National ...

The Air Force may have to keep its aging KC-135 tankers flying beyond their planned 2050 retirement, depending on how many new tankers it buys in coming years and whether a next-generation refueling ...

Flight testing of an autonomous KC-135 Stratotanker may begin next year. Boston’s Merlin Labs, Inc. and the U.S. Air Force’s 6th Air Refueling Wing at MacDill AFB, Fla., have been testing the Merlin ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Jim Clash writes about extreme adventure and classic rock. Being a longtime space buff, I know about the KC-135. In the day, it ...

A Boeing KC-46 on the runway at Pease ANGB, New Hampshire, in September. Credit: Air National Guard GRAPEVINE, Texas—Final deliveries of U.S. Air Force-purchased KC-46s are expected in 2031, two years ...