Vasco,
I can only agree with you. There must be something wrong with the planning or the execution. We have done many trails across the Atlantic via numerous routes. I would question why they went so far south? Was it due to available staging points?
It really does seem to be a waste of resources to train and employ an AARC cell made up of experienced tanker operators, drawing on the experience of about 40 years of doing this kind of thing. Much better just to ask some bloke who did it a couple of times on Javelins.