The simultaneous “dual buy” of two commercial tanker aircraft to replace the Air Force’s Eisenhower-era KC-135 aerial tankers would be more affordable than the Defense Department suggests, Rebecca Grant, director of the Mitchell Institute for Airpower Studies, said in Arlington, Va., April 30, 2009. Grant spoke at the rollout of the Mitchell Institute’s new paper, "The Tanker Imperative." Here, KC-135s from Eielson AFB, Alaska, sit alongside KC-135s from Grand Forks AFB, N.D., at Eielson, March 27, 2009.
Air Force photo by A1C Willard E. Grande