Excerpt from The Proposed Lease of 100 Kc-767 Aerial Refueling Tanker Aircraft by the U. S. Air Force: Hearing Before the Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate, One Hundred Eighth Congress, First Session; September 4, 2003 Air refueling tankers ensure our nation has the global reach to respond quickly and decisively anywhere in the world. They enable other aircraft to fly farther, stay airborne longer, and carry more weapons, equipment, and supplies at home and around the world. Air Force tankers refuel not only other Air Force aircraft, but Navy, Marine Corps and allied aircraft as well. They enable our entire force to protect our homeland, conduct combat operations, and provide humanitarian relief around the world As we just experienced in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Air Force tanker was a critical force enabler and force multiplier that allowed our coalition force to operate with impunity over a distant battlefield. Without a robust and reliable air refueling fleet, no existing war plan, humanitarian mission. Or extended special air mission can be flown without the permission a'nd concurrence of other sovereign nations for landing rights to refuel. In short, our National Security Strategy is unexecutable without air refueling tankers. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.