Joint base tankers being targeted for retirement again
Burlington County Times
March 15, 2020
Three years ago, U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross and many of his New Jersey colleagues in Congress were celebrating the Air Force’s announcement that Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst would become home to at least two dozen of the newest tanker jets, the KC-46.
The Boeing-built jets are expected to phase out the Air Force’s fleet of legacy KC-10 tankers from the 1980s and even some of the older KC-135s that have helped refuel other aircraft and move personnel and supplies since the 1950s. And the decision to locate the new KC-46s at the joint base was celebrated as a momentous development that would ensure the future of the base’s critical air-refueling mission for decades to come.
“Today’s news marks the next chapter in the joint base’s outstanding service to America, and the future looks strong,” Norcross, D-1 of Camden, said back in January 2017, when the Air Force announced the joint base would receive the new tankers in 2021.