{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.sullivan.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/additional-kc-135-tankers-finally-coming-to-eielson-after-bureaucratic-delays", "Additional KC-135 Tankers Finally Coming to Eielson After Bureaucratic Delays", "2024-12-11", "2024", "2024-12", "Republican", "Senate", "AK", "Dan Sullivan", "S001198", "www.sullivan.senate.gov", "sullivan", "https://www.sullivan.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases?PageNum_rs=9", "scraper", "WASHINGTON\u2014U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), today welcomed an announcement from the Air Force that it will finally fulfill its commitment to redistribute four KC-135 refueling aircraft to Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska. The Air Force had previously committed to the basing in March of 2021, but subsequently delayed final approval and missed an expected arrival time of 2023. On October 8, 2024, Sen. Sullivan wrote a letter to Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall expressing frustration about the Air Force\u2019s long delay in delivering the much-needed aerial refueling assets to Alaska.\n\n\u201cThe Air Force has dramatically increased the fighter assets in Alaska in recent years, yet the necessary supporting refueling force has remained stagnant,\u201d said Sen. Sullivan. \u201cThis strain on our refueling mission is unacceptable given the critical importance of Alaska as the hub of air combat power for the Arctic and entire Indo-Pacific, and the increasing aggression from our adversaries off Alaska\u2019s coastline. Over the course of just two months this year, Alaska-based Airmen intercepted six separate incursions into the Alaska ADIZ\u2014including the first-ever joint Russian and Chinese bomber task force\u2014each requiring a nearly 2,000 mile roundtrip sortie. I have relentlessly pressed the Air Force to fulfill its commitment made to me in 2021 to redistribute four KC-135 tankers to Eielson, and I am glad to report it is finally happening. We look forward to finally welcoming these important aircraft and the 220 active duty personnel and their families to our great state, and better securing America\u2019s security interests in our vital region of the world.\u201d\n\nSen. Sullivan spent the last ten years pressing every relevant senior military and administration official\u2014including every Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Air Force\u2014in committee hearings and in visits to Alaska, on the imperative of bringing additional aerial refueling capacity to Alaska. Sullivan has cited Alaska\u2019s increasing importance to U.S. national defense, the state\u2019s unrivaled aerial training complexes, escalating incursions by the Russians and Chinese into America\u2019s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in Alaska, and the need to support the more than 100 fifth-generation fighters based in the state\u2014the highest concentration of such fighters in the world.\n\nIn April 2016, the Air Force selected Eielson Air Force Base as the new home for 54 F-35A fighter aircraft, joining the base\u2019s F-16 Aggressor squadron and the 168th Air Refueling Wing.\n\nIn May 2019, the Air Force announced its plan to permanently station an additional six F-22s at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) in Alaska.\n\nIn April 2020, the bed down of the first F-35s began at Eielson Air Force Base.\n\nIn March 2021, the Air Force announced its decision to base an additional four KC-135s at Eielson Air Force Base to fill Alaska\u2019s refueling capability gap in response to Senator Sullivan\u2019s demands. The aircraft were scheduled to arrive in fiscal year 2023.\n\nIn July 2024, Alaska-based F-16s and F-35s and Royal Canadian Air Force CF-18 fighters intercepted the first joint Russian and Chinese bomber task force to ever enter America\u2019s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) off the coast of Alaska.\n\nOn October 8, 2024, Sen. Sullivan wrote a letter to Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall expressing frustration about the Air Force\u2019s long delay of delivering the previously-committed aerial refueling assets to Alaska.\n\n# # #", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:07:19Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.sullivan.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/additional-kc-135-tankers-finally-coming-to-eielson-after-bureaucratic-delays"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.666915999725461, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}