Operation Desert Storm: An Assessment of Aerial Refueling Operational Efficiency
Abstract
The primary role of the approximately 600 jet tankers managed by the Air Force is to support operations by U.S.-based strategic bombers. That role emphasizes preplanned missions in which each tanker provides a large and predictable amount of fuel over great distances to one of several hundred strategic bombers. A secondary tanker role is to support the deployment and employment of aircraft during a conventional conflict. As documented by Desert Storm, conventional operations are far more complex and difficult to support because of shorter planning periods, rapidly changing priorities, crowded airspace, less predictable fuel requirements, lack of standardized refueling equipment, and continuous operations by thousands of aircraft. In all, nearly 300 U.S. tankers and an estimated 40 from the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Canada, and France provided refueling support to fighters and other aircraft during combat operations-a ratio of about one tanker for every six receivers. The U.S. total included 260 Air Force KC-135/KC-10 model tankers: 20 Marine Corps KC-130 tankers, and 15 carrier-based Navy KA-6 tankers. Both the Marine Corps and Navy must rely on the Air Force if extensive tanker support is required. Air Force tankers supporting combat operations during Desert Storm represented about 40 percent of Air Force tanker assets. Coalition tankers operated from more than a dozen bases located predominately on the Arabian peninsula. Two of these bases-actually large civilian airports-accommodated over one-third of all U.S. tankers.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 1993
- Accession Number
- AD1106164
Entities
People
- Howard E. Kapp
- Joy Labez
- Julia Denman
- Mark E. Gebicke
- Trisha Kurtz
- Walter Ochinko
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office