The Utah Air National Guard demonstrated new capabilities that expand the KC-135 aerial refueling tanker’s ability to also act as an airborne communications and data-sharing node during major exercises in the Pacific earlier this year. Additional datalinks and other systems were packed into heavily modified underwing Multipoint Refueling System (MPRS) pods normally used to send gas to receivers via the probe-and-drogue method. More network connectivity for the U.S. Air Force’s KC-135s, as well as its KC-46s, opens the door to a host of new operational possibilities for those aircraft, including when it comes to controlling drones in flight.
At least one KC-135 from the Utah Air National Guard’s 151st Wing flew with the podded networking suites during this year’s Resolute Force Pacific 25 (REFORPAC 25) exercise. REFORPAC 25 was one of a series of large force exercises that saw thousands of personnel operate from dozens of locations spread across thousands of miles of the Pacific this past summer. The Air Force has touted the overarching Department-Level Exercise series as having been an extremely important opportunity to explore how it might operate in a future high-end fight in the region, such as one against China. Evaluating new capabilities, as well as tactics, techniques, and procedures, was a central aspect of REFORPAC 25 and the rest of the DLE events.
“REFORPAC 25, part of the Department of the Air Force’s broader Department-Level Exercise series, tasked units across the Indo-Pacific to rapidly disperse, operate, and integrate across thousands of miles,” according to a release today from the 151st Wing. “The exercise offered an ideal environment to push new technologies under real-world stressors and demonstrate how rapid modernization strengthens America’s ability to respond in the Pacific.”
151st Wing partnered with the Air National Guard-Air Force Reserve Command Test Center’s (AATC) KC-135 Test Detachment for this particular demonstration.
“AATC evaluated the Datalink Enhancement–Minimum Viable Product (DE-MVP), a capability designed to fuse data from three Line-of-Sight (LOS) Tactical Data Link networks and multiple Beyond Line-of-Sight (BLOS) connections,” the release continues. “Using Advanced Intelligent Gateway technology aboard the KC-135, the system connected joint and coalition mission partners in real time, tightening decision timelines and extending sensing and targeting information across the battlespace.”
“The capability reduces traditional decision-making cycles from hours to minutes. While conventional intelligence processes often follow a 72-hour battle rhythm from collection to action, the KC-135 platform demonstrated the ability to condense that cycle to near-real time, enabling rapid repositioning and mission execution across contested environments,” it adds. “Enhanced systems provide real-time situational awareness through moving map displays while sharing that information across both LOS and BLOS [line-of-sight and beyond-line-of-sight] pathways with national, joint, and coalition partners. This shift enables tanker crews to make timely, independent tactical decisions in contested and degraded environments, turning a traditionally support-focused aircraft into an active node in the command-and-control ecosystem.”
It is important to note here that the 151st Wing, in cooperation with the AATC, has been at the very forefront of Air Force efforts to advance new communications and data-sharing capabilities for the KC-135, specifically, for some time now. The development of podded systems similar, if not identical to the ones demonstrated at REFORPAC 25, traces back at least to 2021, and builds on years of work before then on roll-on/roll-off packages designed to be installed in the aircraft’s cargo deck.
A self-contained podded system offers a different degree of flexibility when it comes to loading and unloading from aircraft, as required. A KC-135 can only carry one pod under each wing at a time, so being able to readily swap out ones filled with communications gear for standard MRPS types between missions would be very valuable. Leveraging the established MRPS pod design, which the KC-135 is already cleared to carry, also helps significantly reduce costs and overall time required for integration and flight testing.
Officials at Air Mobility Command (AMC), the active duty Air Force command that oversees the majority of the service’s aerial refueling tankers, as well as cargo aircraft, have also been outspoken for years now about the importance of new networking capabilities. This is seen as particularly critical for ensuring the continued relevance of existing non-stealth tanker fleets, especially when it comes to the aging KC-135s, in the face of a threat ecosystem that only continues to expand in scale and scope. The Air Force does have plans to significantly evolve its tanker force, possibly including the possible acquisition of new stealthy tankers, but many of those prospective developments are not expected to enter real operational service until sometime well into the next decade at the earliest. Right around the end of last year, the Air Force put out a report that notably highlighted concerns about anti-air missiles with ranges of up to 1,000 miles entering service with potential adversaries by 2050.
“So as the potential adversary has increased in [sic] threat systems, one of our big priorities is being able to mitigate those threats. And so there’s a couple of steps to it, I would say,” Air Force Gen. John Lamontagne, head of AMC, told TWZ and other outlets at a roundtable on the sidelines of the Air & Space Forces Association’s 2025 Air, Space, and Cyber Conference in September. “The first step is being able to sense and make sense of the environment. If you can’t make sense of the threat environment, you [sic] got no chance. That’s what we’re trying to do on connectivity.”
At the same time, AMC sees increased networking capabilities as enabling a path to new operational opportunities well beyond just greater survivability for individual aircraft.
“What I’m striving for is this connectivity that allows me and our [tanker and airlift] crews to know where the priority is, where the risk is, where the opportunity is, so that we can make best use of the force that we have,” now-retired Air Force Gen. Mike Minihan, then-head of Air Mobility Command (AMC), also told TWZ and other outlets at a roundtable on the sidelines of the Air & Space Forces Associations’ annual Warfare Symposium in February 2024. “When we have the connectivity, we are a game changer for the entire joint force. So it’s not just about situational awareness for my crews. It’s about how we enable the joint force to be more successful through that connectivity. It has high correlation to my survivability. But it also has an enormous correlation to the success of the joint force.”
Tanker crews being able to control various tiers of drones, including ones launched in mid-air from their aircraft, is one particularly notable element of this future vision. Those drones could help provide further situational awareness, or even a more active defense against incoming threats, as well as perform other missions, as you can read more about here. A Utah Air National Guard KC-135 demonstrated just this kind of capability in a previous test also involving a Kratos Unmanned Tactical Aerial Platform-22, or UTAP-22, also known as the Mako, a low-cost loyal wingman-type drone, back in 2021.
The pod’s line-of-sight links could even be used to control future stealthy collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) type drones and/or send and receive data from stealthy crewed aircraft, like F-22 and F-35 fighters and the future B-21 Raider bombers. Beyond the immediate value of that information exchange for tankers, including when it comes to survivability, this could open up additional possibilities for data fusion and rebroadcasting. If the pods can communicate with the low probability of interception/low probability of detection (LPI/LPD) datalinks that stealthy aircraft use, such as the Multifunction Advanced Data Link (MADL) and Intra-Fighter Data Link (IFDL), and more general-purpose ones, they could turn tankers into invaluable ‘translator’ nodes between various waveforms. Basically, they could allow aircraft with disparate datalink architectures to share data with each other, with the KC-135 acting as a forward fusion and rebroadcasting ‘gateway.’ The tankers could also use their beyond-line-of-sight links to share critical information globally in near real time. The fact that they would already be operating forward in their tanker role means they can provide these added services alongside their primary refueling mission.
The 151st Wing and AATC are also looking toward additional podded capabilities for the KC-135.
“At Roland R. Wright Air National Guard Base in Salt Lake City, AATC is also developing the High Value Airborne Asset (HVAA) Pod, aimed at providing self-protection capabilities to the KC-135 when operating in high-threat areas,” according to today’s release. “The pod represents a significant leap from simple awareness to survivability, ensuring tankers can continue enabling operations even in environments where threat envelopes are expanding.”
The release does not elaborate on the expected capabilities of the HVAA pod, or whether it will also make use of repurposed MPRS pods. The Air Force has talked in the past about turning MPRS pods into modular shells that could accommodate a variety of “communication, defensive, and sensor technologies.”
The pods being developed now for the KC-135 could easily make their way onto other aircraft, including the Air Force’s KC-46s, as well as other types. For reference, as of September, the Air Force, including the Air National Guard, had some 370 KC-135s and 96 KC-46s in inventory, in total.
There is some precedent for this already with the U.S. Navy’s development of pods containing towed decoys to help protect its P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol planes from growing threats. Prototypes of those pods notably used an outer shell that was based on the shape of the AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missile.
At least for the Air Force’s KC-135 fleet, new pods filled with communications and data-sharing systems have now been demonstrated and could be set to see more widespread use soon. Other pods, including ones offering additional layers of defensive capabilities, are also on the horizon.
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