The whole purpose is to meet the jets, refuel them and send them on their way. The fighters are planning for us to be there because they don t have enough gas to get to their destination without us, agreed Scott. The KC-10 refueler can carry 56,000 gallons of fuel. The average air refueling process lasts about 10 minutes with the fighters taking about 1,000 gallons on board. Other types of aircraft take about 10,000 gallons in 25 minutes.
Missions differ in terms of people and planes, duration and location.
Sometimes refueling requires one tanker and other times it may require two to meet the refueling demands. The tanker is capable of refueling two fighters simultaneously by using the drogues. Normally, the refueler provides petrol to one aircraft at a time. However, multiple refueling is becoming a routine for deployed aircrew. I ve refueled 25 fighters in the span of two hours, said Howlett, extolling the tanker's capability.