EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska --
Just as cars require gas for a driver to get to a destination, aircraft need fuel to fly.
The Tanker Task Force plays a huge role in RED FLAG-Alaska exercises, ensuring the aircraft are fueled up and ready for use during various training scenarios.
Capt. Brandon Kelly, the TTF detachment commander and KC-135 Stratotanker weapons officer with the 18th Operations Support Squadron located at Kadena Air Base, Japan, arrived April 24 to set up operations for RED FLAG-Alaska 16-1.
“Preparation started several months ago,” Kelly said. “We sent a representative to the planning conference where everyone injected their desired learning objectives into the scenarios.”
A lot of what has happened is from work behind the scenes, Kelly explained.
“We prioritize the lessons each different unit is trying to get out of the exercise and build training plans around it,” Kelly said. “On the tanker side, about 50 percent of the workload goes toward administrative and logistical work.”
Kelly went on to explain the TTF Airmen treat RF-A like a normal deployment, ensuring personnel are spun-up on information and properly handling themselves in a mission planning environment.
“We fuel the fighters,” said Staff Sgt. Jason Markham, a 909th Air Refueling Squadron boom operator from Kadena Air Base. “We can control them the way we need, which helps prepare for deployments.”
The TTF brought together different units, including two aircraft from the 18th Wing out of Kadena, two aircraft from the 22nd Air Refueling Wing assigned to McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas, and one aircraft from the 92nd Air Refueling Wing at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington.
“It’s a challenge working with the different units,” said Kelly. “But most of us have worked together before so it’s more of a reunion rather than piecing something together.”
From Kelly’s perspective, integration of the various units is going well, but there’s always room for improvement. The units all have the same operating standards, which makes formations easier to run through.
“In terms of the U.S. side, the integration comes fairly easy,” Kelly said. “When we start making it a total force and add the Guard in the mix, there’s additional scheduling and communication requirements that add additional challenges.”
Another trial the TTF faces is the addition of the Indian Air Force to RF-A 16-1. The IAF brought two tankers of its own and coming together took a little practice, Kelly explained.
“It’s crazy seeing the different mentalities,” Kelly said. “They fly a Russian-built aircraft that operates totally different from the way we are used to doing business.”
Kelly stated the TTF is at the point now where it has gone from de-conflicting forces with the IAF to integrating with them.
“When the opposing forces are trying to execute an attack on one set of tankers, we are in sync when retrograding back to safe air space,” said Kelly.
RF-A doesn’t just bring challenges to the TTF, it also provides opportunities.
“On a personal level, I think it’s a great first leadership experience for the guys on staff,” Kelly explained. “We take experienced crew members or just normal support personnel from our home station, and bring them out on the road where they may or may not have the same level of supervision they are accustomed to.”
On the aircrew side, Kelly said RF-A is designed to give new wingmen and co-pilots their first experience of what a dynamic combat environment is like.
“When we’re at our home station, we take off and fly in relatively contained scenarios,” Kelly stated. “There’s only a handful of aircraft up in the sky at a time.”
During RF-A exercises, there is an entire force dedicated to acting like the real enemy, Kelly said.
“They’re going to mass a lot of forces and bring those against us,” he said. “It turns into a chaotic environment where it’s on our operators to manage the chaos and shape the battle the way they need to.”
By providing fuel to the fighter aircraft, they are able to stay in the air longer and maximize their training, said Markham.
Kelly explained the tankers are, by nature, a support asset, allowing fighter pilots to stay in the sky and complete their training exercises through the duration of RF-A 16-1.