Night air-to-air refueling. From the cockpit of a C-17 cargo plane and through the Night Vision Goggles

August 22, 2013 Military Aviation

David Cenciotti

Not only B-1, B-2 or B-52 strategic bombers (as well as the various tactical planes) need to refuel at night.

C-17 cargo planes, somehow used to carry Special Operations Forces require proper training to be able to deploy on intercontinental distances and to perform night, global reach missions.

The following video gives a hint of what refueling from a KC-10 Stratotanker aerial refueler looks like from the cockpit of a C-17, at night, through the green vision of the Night Vision Goggles.

About David Cenciotti

David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.