The United States has abandoned the development of a stealthy fuel tanker
The United States has decided to stop developing a promising stealthy refueller that was supposed to support 6th generation fighters in the Pacific.
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The US Air Force decided to focus its funding on the Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter programme after an analysis, and cancelled the Next-Generation Air Refueling System (NGAS) project.
The stealth tanker concept, which emerged in 2006, was intended to covertly refuel combat aircraft to avoid the risk of detection of large KC-46 and KC-135 refuellers. Lockheed Martin developed concepts for such an aircraft.
Concept of a stealth refueller. Illustration: Lockheed Martin
However, due to the lack of funding and the need to reduce spending on aviation programmes in 2024, the US military leadership decided to focus on optimising the use of existing refuellers, developing new refuelling tactics and countering enemy detection systems.
As an alternative, the US is considering unmanned refuelling trucks: in 2023, a contract was signed to upgrade the KC-135 Stratotanker to an unmanned version with the Merlin Pilot system.
Source: Aviation Week