Originally Posted by
flensr
And, that's speaking as a guy who unwittingly flew non-RVSM military fighter aircraft up in RVSM altitudes for years without realizing how many hoops ATC had to jump through to clear everyone out of my way. It was pretty much like requesting a 4k block altitude and 10nm ring around my plane, coast to coast.
You don't control how your fighter is equipped by Uncle Sam. If you need to get from A to B without a tanker, what choice do you have? Go to FL450, get direct and I'll bet no one will even know your were there.