Aerial Refueling Enterprise Lacks Resiliency, Capability
Air Drive photograph
Billions of {dollars} are wanted over the subsequent decade to boost the resiliency of the U.S. navy’s aerial refueling enterprise, in line with a brand new research.
The worldwide structure — which consists of tanker plane, airfields and bulk gas storage and distribution — allows planes to refuel with out touchdown and extends their attain. Nevertheless, this strategic benefit for the US is more and more underneath risk as adversaries comparable to China enhance their potential to assault plane and air bases, consultants say.
“The U.S. aerial refueling enterprise is dropping altitude,” mentioned a latest research from the Hudson Institute’s Middle for Protection Ideas and Know-how, “Resilient Aerial Refueling: Safeguarding the U.S. Navy’s International Attain,” written by analysts Timothy Walton and Bryan Clark.
“The rising operations and help … prices of the present geriatric fleet and different competing procurement applications amidst a probable flat protection finances increase the specter that change is not going to be attainable, and that the U.S. Air Drive can be left with a smaller and weaker aerial refueling pressure, and, in flip, a weaker Joint Drive,” they wrote.
Nevertheless, there are “fiscally viable” alternatives to enhance the structure and make it extra operationally efficient, the research advised.
“Crucial adjustments wanted within the aerial refueling enterprise are on the bottom” to incorporate airfields and gas shops, in line with the report.
“Enhancing the capability and resilience of its floor structure needs to be a prime precedence for the U.S. Air Drive — even when it comes at the price of tanker procurement — as a result of it can yield a larger enhance within the variety of tankers accessible, and a larger quantity of gas delivered even when fewer new tankers are within the total fleet,” it mentioned.
Dedicating a further $633 million per 12 months over the subsequent 10 years — and $400 million yearly thereafter — to enhance the posture for bulk gas distribution within the Indo-Pacific area may enhance employable tanker capability there by 63 p.c inside a decade and significantly enhance operational resilience, in line with the research.
The chance of inaction is that in a future battle with China, there could be a restricted variety of airfields the place U.S. forces would have political entry and enough runway, ramp house and gas shops to help refueling operations, the report warned.
“DoD ought to enhance the structure’s resilience by evolving immediately’s brittle posture to a extra distributed one which leverages clusters of mutually supporting navy and civil airfields on U.S., allied and accomplice territory, in line with the U.S. Air Drive’s agile fight employment idea,” it added.
Subjects: Air Energy