Video shows what an F-22 Night Refueling during Syria air strikes looks like

October 2, 2014 Iraq, Syria, Troubled Areas, War on ISIS

David Cenciotti

A U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor takes gas from a KC-135 tanker enroute to Syria.

Although the F-22 Raptor can carry its air-to-air and air-to-ground weaponry in its internal weapons bays, it relies on rather unstealthy fuel tanks when it needs to increase its range.

External fuel tanks are carried during peacetime operations (including QRA – Quick Reaction Alert service) but in a real conflict like the one in Syria and Iraq, when invisibility is a must (at least for the F-22), stealth planes fly with no external loads.

That’s why aircraft must be refueled mid-air by tankers several times, to be able to remain in the air for the 6 – 7 (or more) hours required to reach northern Syria and return to Al Dhafra in the UAE after dropping ordnance.

Here’s an interesting video showing the stealth multi-role fighter jets take fuel from a KC-10 Extender tanker during on Sept. 27, 2014.

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.