Extending the reach: refueling the air-policing mission

Published May 29, 2014
By Tech. Sgt. Benjamin Wilson
Headquarters U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa

KEFLAVIK, Iceland -- The U.S. Air Force is executing the NATO mission of Icelandic Air Policing from Keflavik International Airport, Iceland, and a major part of the operation is aerial refueling.

Among the Airmen deployed with the 48th Air Expeditionary Group are those specialized in operating and maintaining the KC-135 Stratotanker from Royal Air Force Mildenhall, England.

"With us here they can go faster, they can go farther, they can go longer," said Capt. Norman Popp, KC-135 pilot.

During the air policing mission, F-15C Eagles deployed from Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, are tasked with maintaining air sovereignty over Iceland and its waters by intercepting threats or unknown aircraft trespassing into Iceland's airspace.

The aerial refueling mission allows the F-15s to perform at higher speeds and longer distances by providing the fuel necessary to perform their duty.

Popp said, some of the potentially threatening aircraft near Iceland have very long ranges and can fly for a long period of time, which is what makes the refueling mission so vital to the U.S. F-15s maintaining air superiority in the region.

"The fifteens can't do that," he said about long flight times. "So if we go airborne to support them, we can basically keep the fifteens airborne as long as they need to be."

While deployed for Icelandic Air Policing, the fighter and refueling units are operating out of the same building. This has presented an opportunity for the two units to work more closely together.

"There is a benefit because we will often get requests from fighter units, that to us are completely crazy, but they don't know what our requirements are," said Popp. "We start making guesses as to what they're trying to do because we don't know.

"But being able to work so closely with them here, we can see what each other is doing," he said.

This free flow of communication has yielded benefits for both flying communities during the training they are accomplishing while deployed.

"Since the start of this mission we have made several changes to the profile of what the tanker is flying and when and where the fighters get their gas," said the captain. "I think the biggest one has been how much the fighters get, because at the start they were planning to get 20,000-30,000 pounds of fuel each training mission. Based on what we've been able to do for them they have started upping their request into the 60,000-pound range."

As the only American aerial refueling unit located in Europe, Popp said the Airmen are constantly supporting missions throughout the U.S. European Command and it is the only unit capable of rapid response support to the U.S. African Command.

The captain best sums up the reason for such a high demand in aerial refueling capability.

"With us in the air there is no chance of them running short of fuel while they're executing the mission," he said.