Additional KC-135 Tankers Finally Coming to Eielson After Bureaucratic Delays

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), today welcomed an announcement from the Air Force that it will finally fulfill its commitment to redistribute four KC-135 refueling aircraft to Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska. The Air Force had previously committed to the basing in March of 2021, but subsequently delayed final approval and missed an expected arrival time of 2023. On October 8, 2024, Sen. Sullivan wrote a letter to Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall expressing frustration about the Air Force's long delay in delivering the much-needed aerial refueling assets to Alaska.

"The Air Force has dramatically increased the fighter assets in Alaska in recent years, yet the necessary supporting refueling force has remained stagnant," said Sen. Sullivan. "This strain on our refueling mission is unacceptable given the critical importance of Alaska as the hub of air combat power for the Arctic and entire Indo-Pacific, and the increasing aggression from our adversaries off Alaska's coastline. Over the course of just two months this year, Alaska-based Airmen intercepted six separate incursions into the Alaska ADIZ-including the first-ever joint Russian and Chinese bomber task force-each requiring a nearly 2,000 mile roundtrip sortie. I have relentlessly pressed the Air Force to fulfill its commitment made to me in 2021 to redistribute four KC-135 tankers to Eielson, and I am glad to report it is finally happening. We look forward to finally welcoming these important aircraft and the 220 active duty personnel and their families to our great state, and better securing America's security interests in our vital region of the world."

Sen. Sullivan spent the last ten years pressing every relevant senior military and administration official-including every Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Air Force-in committee hearings and in visits to Alaska, on the imperative of bringing additional aerial refueling capacity to Alaska. Sullivan has cited Alaska's increasing importance to U.S. national defense, the state's unrivaled aerial training complexes, escalating incursions by the Russians and Chinese into America's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in Alaska, and the need to support the more than 100 fifth-generation fighters based in the state-the highest concentration of such fighters in the world.

• In April 2016, the Air Force selected Eielson Air Force Base as the new home for 54 F-35A fighter aircraft, joining the base's F-16 Aggressor squadron and the 168^th Air Refueling Wing.
• In May 2019, the Air Force announced its plan to permanently station an additional six F-22s at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) in Alaska.
• In April 2020, the bed down of the first F-35s began at Eielson Air Force Base.
• In March 2021, the Air Force announced its decision to base an additional four KC-135s at Eielson Air Force Base to fill Alaska's refueling capability gap in response to Senator Sullivan's demands. The aircraft were scheduled to arrive in fiscal year 2023.
• In July 2024, Alaska-based F-16s and F-35s and Royal Canadian Air Force CF-18 fighters intercepted the first joint Russian and Chinese bomber task force to ever enter America's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) off the coast of Alaska.
• On October 8, 2024, Sen. Sullivan wrote a letter to Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall expressing frustration about the Air Force's long delay of delivering the previously-committed aerial refueling assets to Alaska.

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