LowObservable wrote:
Right, Beags, and just make sure there's enough gas at all times to reach them.
Of course. Making some F-35B assumptions concerning fuel burn rates and fuel onload rate, using Gander, Keflavik and Prestwick as abort aerodromes with a 1000 kg fuel on ground requirement, even with a single hose tanker and reasonable weather, a conservative refuelling plan from Bangor to Fairford (across the pond from DOTTY to QQ1, then TACAN route to WD2) would require 6 brackets per receiver assuming internal fuel only and 1200 kg at Fairford. Total flight time just over 6 hours.
Using normal criteria and mounting the trail from Gander, a CC-150T Polaris on an average day could probably trail 5 x F-35B (internal fuel only) on the route, even with a single hose failure, with a flight time of just under 5 hours and about 6500 kg transferred to each F-35B.