Skip to main content (Press Enter).
 News
    
        Photos

    Week in Photos

    Air Force TV

    Commentaries

    Features

    Art

    About Us
    
        Air Force Senior Leaders
    
        SECAF

    CSAF

    CMSAF

    Biographies

    Fact Sheets

    SECAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library
    
        CSAF Leadership Library 2022

    CSAF Leadership Library 2021

    CSAF Reading List Pre-2020 Archive
    
        2018 CSAF Reading List

    2017 CSAF Reading List

    2016 CSAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library 2023

    CMSAF Leadership Library

    50 Years of the CMSAF

    Adjunct Professors

    Air Force Strategic Documents

    Arctic Strategy

    Empowered Airmen

    State Licensure Portability

    Careers

    AF Federal Advisory Committees

    AF 75th Anniversary

    Policy Updates

    AF Content Management

    Contact Us

    AF Sites
    
        Site RegistrationU.S. Air Force LogoAir Force

        Policy UpdatesNewsroomReoptimizationBIOGRAPHIESAF Senior Leaders      A U.S. Marine Corps F/A-18C Hornet from Marine Aircraft Group 31, South Carolina, gets refueled by a KC-135 StratotankerAerial refueling of an F/A-18C Hornet
                        
                        
                        A KC-135 Stratotanker from Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash., refuels a Marine Corps F/A-18C Hornet from Marine Aircraft Group 31 while flying over Georgia, Aug. 27, 2019. The refueling shows the strength of the joint partnership between the two branches, which enables Rapid Global Mobility for the United States. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman Kiaundra Miller)
                
                Photo Details /
                        Download Hi-Res

Fairchild AFB tankers refuel Marine aircraftPublished Sept. 4, 2019
                    
                    By Airman Kiaundra Miller
                    
                    
                    92nd Air Refueling Wing
            **FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. (AFNS) --**A KC-135 Stratotanker and Airmen from the 384th Air Refueling Squadron at Fairchild Air Force Base, performed aerial refueling with two F/A-18C Hornets from the Marine Aircraft Group 31 while flying over Georgia, Aug. 27.
The refueling showcased the importance of partnerships, as the Air Force and the Marine Corps further trained their capability to work as a team.
“(Air refueling) allows us to leverage each other’s capabilities to get us to the fight and to stay in the fight,” said Marine Corps Capt. Matthew Hamtak, Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 251 assistant operations officer.
Joint partnerships are especially important to the military because it allows each branch to lean on one another for support in accomplishing the mission.
“Joint partnerships are what makes mission accomplishments possible,” said Air Force Capt. Jonathon O’Neill, 384th ARS aircraft commander. “No one service can act on [their] own.”
Joint service experiences are developed through missions such as this. Those experiences in turn allow them to efficiently and quickly perform air refueling from either the KC-135, or the KC-10 Extender in the future with more time to focus on their mission.
“The Air Force has pretty valuable and important resources, especially in regards to air refueling,” Hamtak said. “I mean you have KC-135’s and KC-10’s; you have the ability to [refuel] at higher altitudes and faster speeds.”
Air refueling is an essential tool in war operations; with the fuel that KC-135’s bring, each branch of the U.S. military are prepared to respond to an incident at any time in any location. Joint partnerships between Airmen and Marines allows each branch to train in a joint environment and adapt to the different ways each branch performs.
“To be able to reach out jointly and fairly quickly, having the ability to coordinate with each other and get each other to the same place, at the same time and location, across the country is pretty awesome,” Hamtak said. “I know air refueling is needed globally, and to be able to reach that benefit locally in order to go global is pretty awesome.”
The air refueling between the two branches shows the versatility of the KC-135.
“We provide the air refueling component to train Marine aviators to be competent and qualified in air refueling procedures,” O’Neill said. “It also gives us an opportunity to go to a different field, allowing us to gain a different level of proficiency and familiarity with going to different locations across the country.”
Fairchild AFB is home to the largest fleet of tanker aircraft in the world and provides aircraft with crucial and provides the U.S. military and its allies with support to reach all corners of the globe and efficiently fight their mission.LR 



USAF 



AF 



Air Force 



Aerial Refueling 



KC-135 



Stratotanker 



F/A-18C Hornet 



384th Air Refueling Squadron 



Marines 



Marine Aircraft Group 31 



Fairchild Air Force Base 



Fairchild AFB 



Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 251 



global mobility 



KC-10 



Extender Featured News
        Senior Leader Priorities
                DAF leaders talk budget, reoptimizing the force
                    
                    DAF leaders speak at National Character and Leadership Symposium
                    
                    DAF members recognized during BEYA STEM awards
                    
                    DAF senior enlisted advisors discuss Airmen, Guardians in the fight
                    
                    SecAF Kendall AFA Warfare Symposium Q&A: Reoptimizing for Great Power CompetitionInnovation
                AFWERX director discusses role of tech startups, quick innovation in Great Power Competition
                    
                    DAF delivers lethality at the speed of data during Project Convergence Capstone 4
                    
                    DAF welcomes industry partners to HQ development program
                    
                    DAF announces Spark Tank 2024 finalists
                    
                    Chief Digital, Artificial Intelligence Office to host hackathon in HawaiiMAJCOM News
                Safety enterprise announces new mission, vision, goals in 2024 strategic plan
                    
                    Air Combat Command welcomes new commander
                    
                    USAFE-AFAFRICA commander discusses Integrated Air, Missile Defense during Munich Security Conference
                    
                    Flosi to AFMC family: Embrace change, make every day count
                    
                    AMC rises to increasing global tension
 Quick Links
AccessibilityContact UsEqual OpportunityFOIA | Privacy | Section 508Information QualityInspector GeneralJAG Court-Martial DocketLink DisclaimerNo FEAR ActOpen GovernmentOSI Tip LinePlain LanguageQuestionsResilienceRSSSite MapVeterans Crisis LineCareers
Join the Air ForceAir Force BenefitsAir Force CareersAir Force ReserveAir National GuardCivilian ServiceConnect
            Get Social with Us
            
            Official United States Air Force Website
    Hosted by Defense Media Activity - WEB.mil