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McDonnell Douglas KC-10A Extender
The KC-10A was a modified DC-10 that kept 88 percent of the airliner's systems and added military avionics, a boom, a hose and drogue, an operator station and a refueling receptacle. Three General Electric CF6-50C2 turbofans of 52,500 pounds of thrust each powered it. It could carry up to 75 people and nearly 170,000 pounds of cargo about 4,400 miles unrefueled, and its six fuel tanks held more than 356,000 pounds of fuel, almost twice a KC-135. The boom passed fuel at up to 1,100 gallons a minute. Its crew was four: pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer and boom operator.
- Range
- 4,375 miles (3,800 nm, 7,040 km) with the load named above
- Cruise speed
- Mach 0.83
- Payload
- 170,000 lb (77,111 kg)
- Engines
- Three General Electric CF6-50C2 turbofans, two under the wings and one in the tail
- Max takeoff weight
- 590,000 lb (267,619 kg)
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Specifications
| Length | 181 ft 7 in (55.35 m) |
|---|---|
| Wingspan | 165 ft 5 in (50.41 m) |
| Height | 58 ft 1 in (17.70 m) |
| Ceiling | 42,000 ft (12,800 m) |
| Entry into service | March 1981 |
| Status | Retired in 2024 |
| Type codes | Filed in flight plans as DC10 (the code of an airliner type) |
Who flew it
- US Air Force (Air Mobility Command)
- Air Force Reserve (associate units)
Service branches, from the services' own fact sheets. No flight data is shown for military aircraft.
History
The KC-10A entered service in March 1981. In Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1991, the KC-10 and KC-135 fleets made about 51,700 refueling contacts and delivered 125 million gallons of fuel without missing a scheduled rendezvous. In 1999 about 150 KC-10s and KC-135s deployed to Europe for Operation Allied Force, where the KC-10 flew 409 missions. After September 2001 it flew more than 350 missions in Operation Noble Eagle and more than 1,390 in Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. Twenty were fitted with wing pods. The Air Force retired the type in September 2024.
Last operators
- 305th Air Mobility Wing, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey
- 60th Air Mobility Wing, Travis Air Force Base, California
- 349th and 514th Air Mobility Wings (Air Force Reserve associate units)