RIA Novosti: the use of air tankers unmasks F-35 fighters The -10 Extender and the KC-135 Stratotanker take away the first benefits of stealth technology. RIA Novosti describes the method of destroying several stealth aircraft at once by air defense (air defense) weapons.
The publication states that tankers are “an easy target for anti-aircraft missile systems.” “Russia has the S-400 with a range of 400 kilometers and the MiG-31 interceptors that can hit the R-33 missile at 300 kilometers, so American tanker aircraft have something to fear,” the agency writes.
that “it is still unclear how to use them in conjunction with the fifth generation fighters F-22 and F-35.” “Refueling” invisible “in the air completely unmasks it, and the enemy's air defense can kill two or even three birds with one stone at once,” the publication says.
RIA Novosti recalls that the United States is developing stealth air tankers.
In September, Lockheed Martin unveiled the LMXT air tanker project, which will compete with the current Boeing KC-46 aircraft in the US Air Force competition for the KC-Y tanker.
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In the same month, a demo of the US Navy's MQ-25 Stingray unmanned tanker refueled the F-35C Lightning II fifth-generation carrier-based fighter.