Gen. Carlton D. Everhart II, Commander of the Air Mobility Command (AMC) that flies the aerial refueling aircraft essential for long-range operations by U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy fighters, proposes defending his huge and vulnerable tankers from new enemy missiles and fighters with a range of new weapons, including an "invisibility cloaking device" and destructive high-energy lasers.

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AMC operates the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker and the McDonnell Douglas KC-10 Extender refueling tankers. Both of these are ageing aircraft: the KC-135 first flew in 1956 while the KC-10 was introduced in 1981. And both have no defensive or offensive weapons whatsoever.

AMCs newest tanker, the Boeing KC-46 Pegasus, will be introduced into the service in 2018 but will also be unarmed and unprotected.

Gen. Everhart wants to banish these disadvantages, especially with news the Chinese are developing new weapons specifically targeting his tankers. The Chinese are now testing a "Very Long Range Air-to-Air Missile" (VLRAAM) with a range of 300 km and a claimed speed of Mach 6 (7,400 km/h). VLRAAM is being developed to destroy American aerial refueling tankers.

The other threat to American tankers is the Chengdu J-20 "stealth" long-range fighter, one of whose primary missions is to hunt down aerial tankers. The J-20 will be armed with VLRAAMs and will also be used to provide targeting data for VLRAAMs.

"I've got airplanes with big fat bodies and long wings," said Gen. Everhart. "I've got first-generation tankers refueling fifth-gen fighters. The enemy doesn't have to look for the fighter -- he just has to look for me."

Gen. Everhart wants the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) and military service laboratories to equip his aircraft with technology that alters a tanker's radar image, or waveform, so it appears to be "either in a different location in the air" or "reduced or disappears altogether: Now you see me, now you don't."

"I asked industry for a cloaking device and they all laughed. They said you've been watching too much" science fiction.

"I said, 'Listen to me -- this is what I want -- something that would be able to change the waveform."'

"I'm piggybacking off industry," said Gen. Everhart "If I put it in the military acquisition system, it would be 50 years before I get it out because of the regulations that we have."

Apart from a cloaking device, Gen. Everhart wants to equip his tankers with lasers that can destroy surface-to-air missiles instead of just using the intense beams to blind the missile's warhead as current defensive systems do.

TagsGen. Carlton D. Everhart II, Air Mobility Command, AMC, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, McDonnell Douglas KC-10 Extender, Boeing KC-46 Pegasus, Very Long Range Air-to-Air Missile, Chengdu J-20, cloaking device, invisibility, Lasers