The U.S. Air Force expects to modernize its aerial refueling fleet for decades while continuing to sustain the KC-135 Stratotanker, service and industry officials said at the Air & Space Forces Association’s 2026 Air, Space & Cyber Conference. The effort will combine KC-46A Pegasus recapitalization with upgrades, spare-parts support and other sustainment work for the legacy fleet. Defense News reported the comments from a panel on long-range airpower.
Air Mobility Command Deputy Commander Maj. Gen. Gerald Donohue said the timeline for replacing the KC-135 will extend well beyond the arrival of newer tankers. “The last KC-135 pilot has not been born,” Donohue said during the panel. He said the service must sustain both legacy and newer platforms so the joint force can continue executing its missions.
The Air Force primarily operates the KC-135 and KC-46A, which is in the first phase of tanker recapitalization. Donohue said the service is modernizing KC-135s as it brings KC-46s into the force, and that hundreds of KC-135s will remain after the KC-46 acquisition is complete. That continuing fleet mix makes spare-parts availability and modernization priorities for the older aircraft central to maintaining expected mission capability rates.
Donohue described recapitalization as the command’s priority alongside upgrades to existing aircraft. He identified connectivity, survivability and technical viability as key areas for the tanker force, particularly as future operating areas become more contested. The service is also seeking greater flexibility from its tanker fleet as it modernizes the strategic bomber force and needs alternatives for refueling operations.
Connectivity has a direct operational role, Donohue said, including passing information to bombers during refueling and to combat air forces operating forward. He also warned that extending a bomber or fighter force to its final Air Refueling Control Time, or ARCT, can increase risk in contested environments. The panel discussion linked that risk to the need for more survivable tanker platforms and systems that keep both legacy and future aircraft viable.
The sustainment challenge will fall on airmen and maintainers for years, including those supporting airframes more than 70 years old, Donohue said. That requirement means the Air Force will have to support the KC-135 while fielding and developing newer tanker capabilities rather than treating recapitalization as a clean break from the existing fleet.
Industry cooperation was presented at the panel as a way to deliver capability faster and at lower cost. Jamie Burgess, Boeing’s vice president and general manager of Mobility, Surveillance and Bombers, said work on the KC-46, including upgrades to its refueling vision system, changed how the company approaches development. He emphasized bringing operators, subject-matter experts and engineers together early to settle design decisions before detailed design, testing and delivery.
The immediate path is therefore a parallel effort: continue KC-46 recapitalization, modernize the KC-135 fleet and build the sustainment capacity needed for both. Air Force officials said that approach will remain necessary as tanker requirements evolve and the service continues supporting bomber and combat-air-force operations.