12 New Military Air Tankers Heading To Riverside County?

MARCH ARB, CA — Twelve new military air tankers could end up stationed at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, the U.S. Air Force announced Thursday.

The Department of the Air Force selected six candidate locations to host the next Reserve operating base for the 12 Boeing KC-46A Pegasus aircraft, and March ARB is one of them.

In addition to March ARB, Beale Air Force Base, California, Grissom Air Reserve Base, Indiana, Joint Base Andrews-Naval Air Field Washington, Maryland, Niagara Falls ARB, New York, and Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, are the candidate locations.

The KC-46A Pegasus aircraft will replace the aging Air Force Reserve Command KC-135 Stratotankers, according to the USAF.

Additionally, 24 KC-46As will replace active-duty KC-135s at one of the two candidate locations: Fairchild AFB, Washington, or MacDill AFB, Florida.

Officials will conduct site surveys this summer to determine the best locations. An announcement on the military's picks is expected in fall 2021.

"The KC-46A brings many enhanced capabilities over the legacy KC-135, including boom and drogue refueling on the same sortie, worldwide navigation and communication, airlift capability on the entire main deck floor, receiver air refueling, improved force protection, and multi-point air refueling capability," according to the USAF.

The first KC-46A was delivered to McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas, on Jan. 25, 2019.

Riverside County Congressman Ken Calvert (CA-42) praised the USAF for selecting March Air Reserve Base as a candidate location.

"This announcement by the Air Force is welcome news for March Air Reserve Base and another confirmation of the important role the Inland Empire has to play in the future of our national security,” Calvert said. “We have and continue to make significant investments at March in support of the critical missions fulfilled at the base. I believe March is well-positioned, especially as the only Reserve candidate location with a current Active Association, to have its fleet of KC-135s replaced with the newer KC-46A Pegasus.”