US Transportation Command may revise its requirement for KC-46s in light of a recent war game that demonstrated the impact of attrition in contested environments, TRANSCOM chief Gen. Darren McDew told Congress Tuesday. “We have never in [our] history, that I can remember, planned for attrition of our logistics,” McDew told the Senate Armed Services Committee. But given the results of the recent exercise, he now he feels that “we owe the Congress, possibly, better numbers.” McDew said he helped to produce the current requirement, providing “numbers of tankers that are needed to provide help around the globe.” Then, earlier this year, TRANSCOM held its first ever war game that included anti-access, area denial scenarios. That experience “tells us that those numbers may not be sufficient,” McDew told the committee. While simply meeting the current requirement, given budget restraints “will be nearly impossible,” McDew admitted, meeting tanker requirements in a contested battlespace adds new complexities. “We don’t plan for losing tankers,” he said. “And if we don’t recap them, any loss is more catastrophic.”
The last remaining T-1 Jayhawk at JBSA-Randolph, Texas, took its final flight to the "Boneyard" at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., on July 15. The 99th Flying Training Squadron will train pilots using T-6 and simulator until it gets T-7 Red Hawk in fiscal 2026.