'Tanker Process Totally Lacking in Transparency'

Ever since Senator John McCain threw a monkey wrench into efforts to lease new aerial-refueling tankers five years ago, the Air Force has been struggling to implement an alternate strategy. It has spent a lot of time and money on the process but still hasn't managed to buy a single new tanker.

Now the 453 Eisenhower-era tankers that make up most of the aerial refueling fleet are approaching 50 years of age. Since nobody has ever operated jets for this long, there's no way of knowing for sure when they will start falling out of the sky due to metal fatigue or corrosion. But with the replacement process likely to take decades, it's a safe bet that will eventually happen.

» Older news articles