Refueling for the Fight

Two KC-135 Stratotanker crews from the Utah Air National Guard’s 191st Air Refueling Squadron completed two weeks of training with new F-16 pilots from from the 555th and 510th Fighter Squadrons at Aviano AB, Italy, on Oct. 27. The pilots flew more than 200 sorties over the course of the exercise, which was geared toward perfecting in-flight refueling in the midst of a deployed environment, according to a release. “We link up with the tanker at speeds of more than 300 knots and altitudes higher than 20,000 feet,” said Maj. Michael Mullins, 31st Operations Group chief of standardization and evaluation, according to the release. “I want everything we do in the air to be second nature for the newer pilots, whether that’s in-flight refueling or approaching a ground position correctly to drop munitions.”