Air Force refueling tankers?
I thought, from reading a few years back, that the Air Force of the future would be unmanned fighters and bombers and ultralight remote controlled vehicles?
So, that being the case, why is the U.S. spending so much on tankers which are designed for refueling manned aircraft? Wont that be hundreds of billions spent and wasted on tankers whose missions will be obsolete in a few years?
Unmanned aircraft need fuel too.
“I thought, from reading a few years back, that the Air Force of the future would be unmanned fighters and bombers and ultralight remote controlled vehicles?”
You forgot to mention Cubicles. Lots and lots of Cubicles...
I really don’t think any major unmanned effort would be in a few years. I don’t see why the drones won’t be able to refuel on their own.
Presumably drones will need to be refuelled, too.
The future is a long ways away and you apparently have no idea how many manned aircraft are in service and coming on line in the next decade. We’re at least a generation away from commencing the transition to a largely unmanned fleet.