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Law requires Forbes to maintain expensive, aging tankers
By Tim Carpenter
The Capital-Journal
Published Saturday, November 03, 2007
An obscure provision of federal law requires a dozen air refueling tankers at Forbes Field in Topeka to be kept in operational condition even though the aircraft no longer serve a national security purpose.

The aircraft aren't likely to again take to the air in battle, military officials said, but by act of Congress the KC-135Es are legally required to remain at "warm-ready" status. They are towed from station to station at Forbes' tarmac for weekly turning of the tires, monthly mechanical testing and, when it snows, deicing of wings. No one at Forbes is certified to fly these aging tankers, which went into service when Dwight Eisenhower was president.

Annual cost to taxpayers: $1.1 million.

Rep. Nancy Boyda, D-Kan., raised the issue Friday after being alerted to the predicament by Air Force commanders, who prefer the tankers be decommissioned and transferred to a distant aviation boneyard to reduce maintenance costs and free up ramp space for newer KC-135Rs in Topeka.

"At a time when the Iraq war has stretched America's military readiness to the breaking point, it makes no sense to spend so much money keeping obsolete planes on life support," Boyda said.

Sharon Watson, spokeswoman for the Kansas National Guard, said a dozen newer air refueling tankers, with more powerful engines and more sophisticated technology, were in the process of being reassigned to Forbes as part of the 2006 national base closure and realignment process.

Eight of 12 of these replacement tankers have been placed under the care of the 190th Air Refueling Wing, causing crowding at the airfield dotted with the older KC-135Es.

"It will get tighter when we get the rest of the 135Rs," Watson said. "We'd gain space by not having 135Es in storage."

Boyda, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said she requested that Chairman Ike Skelton, R-Mo., remove language in the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act blocking retirement of aircraft without congressional consent.

She said "numerous other airfields" in the United States are required to maintain aircraft that no longer have a military mission. The Air Force, she said, has made its feelings about the KC-135Es clear. The Air Force intends to stop issuing flight qualifications next year for the older KC-135Es.

"I believe that military leaders, not politicians, should decide when equipment has become hopelessly outdated," Boyda said.

In October, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Air Force Chief of Staff T. Michael Moseley told members of the House Armed Services Committee that the Air Force was saddled with a collection of aircraft that was the oldest in U.S. history.

They said the average age of aircraft in the Air Force was 24 years, with the KC-135Es averaging 44 years of age.

The first KC-135E entered active service on Dec. 28, 1957. In the past 50 years, they said in testimony to the House committee, problems with engine strut corrosion on these aircraft were fixed, but those measures have worn out.

Twenty-six of the type of old tanker kept at Forbes Field have been grounded by the Air Force. However, the Air Force's top commanders said, none of these KC-135Es can legally be decommissioned. They said the Air Force "desperately" needs Congress to remove legislative restrictions on retiring aircraft.

They said the congressional cap on decommissioning aircraft also compels the Air Force to retain inventories of C-130E/H and C-5A cargo planes, U-2S surveillance aircraft, B-52H long-range bombers and the KC-135E tankers at an annual cost of $229 million in operations and maintenance.

Tim Carpenter can be reached at 785-233-0195 or timothy.carpenter@cjonline.com.