Originally Posted by
blastoff
Actually the majority of 10 sorties are driving up and down the west coast doing dry contacts.
The new tanker will still do what the 135 does most of the day, especially in peacetime...thousands of dry contacts so that receiver aircraft can get their monthly beans. A larger aircraft will never do that better.
Actually you missed the point. During peacetime the KC-X will move people and cargo all over the world. The future of the Air Force is training in simulators. Dry contacts will become a thing of the past. We will only fly airplanes to actually do something, just like the airlines. That's the only fiscally responsible way to use our flying hours. Read the white paper I linked to and you'll get a good idea what the SECAF and Transcom CC want in the next tanker.