Bloody Hundredth supports Tartan Flag

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Justine Rho
  • 100th Air Refueling Squadron Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England – The 100th Air Refueling Wing provided aircrew and maintenance personnel Oct. 30 to Nov. 3, 2017, while forward-located at RAF Brize Norton, England in support of Exercise Tartan Flag.

Tartan Flag is a Royal Air Force exercise focused on deployed mission skills, in preparation for Red Flag 2018 at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.

U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker aircrew, assigned to the 351st Air Refueling Squadron, partnered with RAF A330 Voyager aircrew, assigned to the Number 10 and Number 101 Squadron, to execute mission planning, cell departure and recoveries, formation aerial refueling and area maneuvers.

Successful mission execution resulted in the first U.S. Air Force KC-135 and RAF Voyager cell aerial refueling, Nov. 1, when two RAF Tornado GR4s received fuel off the east coast of Scotland.

“Cell formation allows two tankers to fly closer together than they normally would during operations,” explained Flight Lieutenant Jase Orr, Voyager air-to-air refueling instructor. “This allows us to operate more tankers in a smaller air space – it’s a tactical development that we are trying at Brize Norton this week.”

Orr said the main objectives of the joint exercise are to develop Voyager force capabilities and to advance operations in conjunction with foreign militaries.

The 100th ARW plans to continue support of Tartan Flag from home station Nov. 6 to 8.