The UK Royal Air Force and the USAF are working on a memorandum of understanding which will give the UK access to tankers equipped with refueling booms to support its fleet of RC-135 Rivet Joint intelligence-gathering aircraft.
Officers close to the Airseeker program, which will cover the procurement of three Boeing RC-135W Rivet Joints, tell Aviation Week they hope to have the MoU in place by the end of this year when the first RAF Rivet Joint arrives in the UK. The support is essential as the UK does not have any air-to-air refueling aircraft fitted with a boom, and there are no plans to add a probe to refuel from drogue-equipped aircraft in a bid to reduce costs in the Foreign Military Sales program.
What a complete and utter cluster. Why didn't anyone spot this when the idea of acquiring these brand-new 50 year old aircraft was first proposed?
Renegotiate the Voyager programme to include 3 x Voyagers with booms - the RAF could even support its C-17A and E-3D AAR needs (although the latter is also probe-and-drogue capable) as well as supporting ATARES F-16 requirements for NATO.....