Maintainers with the 39th Logistic Readiness Squadron at Incirlik AB, Turkey, are resorting to an old refueling technique—last used there a decade ago—that minimizes equipment wear and tear, saves maintenance time, and affords pilots more training time. The technique, called “hot pitting,” calls for fuels airmen to refuel an aircraft while its engines are running. The maintainers are applying the method to F-16s newly arrived for a training exercise from the 22nd Fighter Squadron at Spangdahlem AB, Germany.
The Air Force wants to pump more than $12 billion over the next five years into its new affordable long-range missiles program and recently asked industry to push the flights of some of those munitions beyond 1,200 miles.