Neither newspaper indicated why we needed $100 billion in tankers, other than in a revealing photo in the Times showing one of the airplanes refueling a B-2 bomber, Full Story »
Posted by Dwight Rousu
Mr. Scheer pointed out that (surprisingly) neither the WSJ or NYT business section indicated why new tankers are needed. That is somewhat open to discussion but the short answer is: the current fleet of KC-135s is over forty years old and the airframes are showing their age and Mr. Bush's war of choice in Iraq has caused these aircraft to be used more therefore aging them even faster. also in air refueling allows other aircraft to have longer range and and longer loiter time (refueling near the combat zone). Both of those things are useful in a number of scenarios.
