Senate authorizers propose tanker prototyping to test unmanned, survivable capabilities

By Courtney Albon / June 7, 2018 at 5:07 PM
Senate lawmakers want the Air Force to prototype capabilities to operate a tanker in a contested environment, providing funding in their mark of fiscal year 2019 defense policy legislation to pursue the effort. "The committee is concerned about the growing threat to large, high-value aircraft in contested environments," the Senate Armed Services Committee wrote in the report accompanying its mark. "The KC-135 and hopefully the KC-46A in the near future provide greater operational availability and range for a broad swath...

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