PRESS

in Operation UNIFIED PROTECTOR in 2011 and sent
tankers in support of French fighters and bombers
during France’s 2013 Mali operation.
A March 2014 analysis by the Joint Air Power
Competence Centre summarized NATO’s current airrefueling
capability with and without U.S. contributions.
With U.S. capability, NATO has 709 air-tankercapable
aircraft spread across multiple aircraft types,
some with boom-type capability, some with droguetype
capability, and some with both. Without U.S.
capability, NATO nations collectively have only 71
air-refueling aircraft, many of which are aging and are
spread across multiple types of airframes. 30 For example,
the French operate three KC-135s and 11 C-135Rs,
Turkey operates seven KC-135Rs, the UK operates
four Lockheed TriStars, and the Netherlands operates
two KDC-10s. 31
The outlook is improving somewhat. In 2011, Italy
received four new Boeing KC-767s with drogue and
boom capability. Germany and Canada operate small
fleets of modern military A-310 Airbus cargo and passenger
aircraft with extra fuel capacity and a probeand-drogue
system added to each wing.
As noted previously, in the near term, the UK is
procuring 14 Airbus A330 MRTT, with 9 of 14 in operation
as of May 2014, while France announced that
it intends to buy 12. In addition, some of the NATO
nations buying the A-400M plan to equip them with
underwing drogue-refueling systems. The challenge
for NATO will be achieving the right mix of boom and
drogue capability to match the NATO fighter aircraft
fleets’ current and future requirements.
However, if defense budgets remain strained and
some planned procurements are put to the side, a remedial
strategy could be for nations to create a shared-
368