Page 50 - Williams Foundation Integrated Force Design Seminar

Designing the Integrated Force: How to Define and Meet the Challenge?

and then within five minutes we were signing a cooperative agreement to take the capabilities of the tanker
to the next level.”

Both Lennon and Williams saw the maturation of the relationship with Airbus as critical when moving towards
Tanker 2.0.

I think they've definitely turned a corner in terms of maturity. They are not just trying to sell airplanes anymore
but operating as a global fleet steward. They are offering us a menu of choices for how we might modify the
aircraft going forward, rather than selling us a single solution.”

We then returned to a topic which I had discussed with the Group Captain last August, namely the
advantages of the pairing of the C-17 with the KC-30A. The Aussies given the vast areas they cover use their
tanker as a fully loaded fuel asset and given its significant fuel load maximizes the number of receivers that
can be deployed over long distances. This means though that they want to fly with a C-17 to carry the kit,
people and support equipment that is displaced by fuel on the KC-30. Hence the importance of the pairing.

According to Williams there are two clear recent examples of how this works.

“We brought F-35s and Growlers to the Avalon air show and we did so by supporting them with a KC-30A
and C-17 pairing. For long range operations, the pairing works very well for us.”

In contrast, for operations within Australia the tanker can be used not only to fuel but to lift personnel and
cargo as well in many operational settings.

th
Editor’s Note: in December 6, 2016 story published by the USAF 88 Wing, the CARI validation process
with the KC-30A and the B-1 was described.
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio – Officials in the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s
Tanker Directorate, headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base recently announced the successful
completion of refueling tests between the Australian Air Force’s KC-30 and the U.S. Air Force’s B-1B as part of
the Coalition Aerial Refueling Initiative (CARI).
From Oct. 25 – Nov. 9 the coalition team executed seven sorties totaling 27.4 flight test hours, encompassing
185 contacts and offloading a total of 275,150 pounds of fuel. The testing was completed two weeks ahead
of schedule.

“CARI is significant because it fosters international cooperation by leveraging the combined assets of our
coalition partners,” said John Slye, director of engineering for the Tanker Directorate.

“This is not just a U.S. Air Force mission, but a global mission because of the reliance on aerial refueling as a
force extender, force enabler, and force multiplier.

“The results of CARI offer a significant return on investment; providing aircraft refueling services and
increasing tanker availability while improving the interoperability of the United States and its coalition
partners.”

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1021512/coalition-aerial-refueling-initiative-
successful/

Group Captain Braz and the Coming of the Growler to the Australian
Defence Force

Second Line of Defense

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