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B-21
A fleet of at least 100 Northrop Grumman B-21 Raiders will increase the U.S. Strategic Command’s requirement for air refueling volume, a top Defense Department mobility leader said on March 5.
Gen. Randall Reed, Transportation Command chief, said he learned of the B-21’s extra refueling requirement during a meeting in the past month with Gen. Anthony Cotton, the head of Strategic Command.
“We got a really deep understanding in terms of how they intend to employ their new aircraft,” Reed told the panel. “And that will drive a slightly different way in which we are to support them, which actually means that it’s going to be a little bit higher requirement specifically in the fuel transfer.”
A Transportation Command spokesman later clarified that Reed meant that a larger fleet of B-21s compared to the 20-strong Northrop B-2A fleet will need a larger number of air refueling tankers to support operations.
Reed and Cotton are now teaming up to lobby the U.S. Air Force to address the B-21’s need for a faster fuel transfer rate, Reed added.
The disclosure offers a rare glimpse into the secretive operational plans for the Air Force’s next-generation bomber.
Reed’s remarks during the hearing came in response to a prompt by Sen. Deb Fischer, a Republican from Nebraska, the home of Cotton’s Strategic Command headquarters.
“As the B-21 enters service ... we must also have an adequate tanker fleet to support this platform,” Fischer said.
Correction: The original story incorrectly reported that Reed said the B-21 fleet would need a faster fuel transfer rate from the refueling booms aboard KC-46s and KC-135s, but a Transportation Command spokesman later clarified that Reed meant that the B-21 requires a larger number of tankers in total.
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