KC-135 Tankers to Get Drone Launchers
The U.S. Air Force has developed a means to launch small drones from its KC-135 aerial refueling tankers, and is now looking at adding that capability to the fleet. The service says the tankers could send out uncrewed aerial systems to help defend themselves from incoming threats and just provide useful additional situational awareness, as well as to potentially perform other missions in the future.
Work on the prototype KC-135 Drone Delivery Mechanism (DDM) was completed sometime in Fiscal Year 2024, which ended on Sept. 30 of last year. However, the milestone only appears to have been disclosed in the Air Force’s proposed budget for the 2026 Fiscal Year, the release of which started last week. This is something that has been in the works since at least 2023.
The DDM line item in the budget request describes the system as being intended to provide “onboard defensive/ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] capability for operations in [a] contested environment.”
The “drone delivery mechanism capable of launching unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) from a KC-135 in flight [is] to provide an onboard defensive capability,” it adds. “A prototype integrating a common launch tube (CLT) with a modified KC-135 aft hatch door [was used] to produce and determine the viability of this concept.”
The CLT is a standardized aerial launch system that the U.S. military uses on various platforms, particularly fixed-wing special operations aircraft and drones, to fire precision-guided munitions and small uncrewed aerial systems. While the budget line does not name any specific type of drone to go along with the DDM, Raytheon’s Coyote and Anduril’s ALTIUS-600 are prime examples of designs in service with America’s armed forces today that can be launched via CLT.
Now, “Air Mobility Command and Air Force Life Cycle Management Center [are] in discussions on [the] best approach to transition the KC-135 Drone Deliver Mechanism (DDM) to the appropriate POR [program of record] and implement the capability on the KC-135 fleet,” according to the Air Force’s latest budget request.
The Air Force’s interest in using the KC-135 as an aerial launch platform for up to 100 small drones first emerged publicly in January 2023 in a leaked memo from now-retired Gen. Mike Minihan, who was then-head of Air Mobility Command (AMC). Minihan’s missive was centered on an ominous warning about the prospect of a high-end fight with China by 2025, and implored his command to take a host of new steps to prepare for that contingency.
In general, CLT launchers are often reloadable from within the aircraft they are mounted on, which could allow KC-135s to fire various payloads via the DMM as required. In addition, the tankers have significant internal payload space given their secondary cargo-carrying mission, which could give them substantial magazine depth when configured for the drone-launching role. If large groups of drones could be deployed in a fully networked swarm, it would open up additional operational possibilities.
TWZ previously detailed the benefits of this kind of drone swarm launch capability in laying out a broader case for reconfiguring P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol planes as multi-role arsenal ships, which you can read more about here.
A drone launcher that works on the KC-135 could also conceivably be adapted to the KC-46 tanker.
Source: The War Zone
