The Air Force will increase the number of legacy tankers in the reserve component even as it divests the KC-10 Extender in an effort to maintain the requirement of 479 refueling aircraft while it waits for the KC-46A to become operational, according to a new force structure plan released with the Fiscal 2017 budget proposal. Two bases in the reserve component will transfer to the service’s aging KC-135 tanker and a base expecting to receive the KC-46A will lose its Stratotankers. The Air National Guard unit at Selfridge ANGB, Mich., will receive eight KC-135s in 2021 as it retires 21 A-10s, and the Reserve unit at Niagara Falls AFRS, N.Y., will retire eight C-130s and gain eight KC-135s in Fiscal 2017. Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C., will lose four of its KC-135 tankers in 2017 and 12 in 2020, while it gains 12 KC-46s in 2020. The Air Force’s force structure plans call for retiring 59 KC-10 Extenders, but it does not detail how the tankers will leave the service. The Air Force’s KC-10 fleet is stationed at Travis AFB, Calif., and JB McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.
The program executive officers for some of the Air Force’s largest acquisition management organizations are struggling to deal with an exodus of senior talent and experienced civilian staff, three of them told an industry conference.
