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Washington may have turned down a request by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak to purchase an unspecified number of Boeing aerial refueling tankers, according to an Aug. 21 report by Israeli Channel 10 News. Though questions about the veracity of the report have already begun to emerge, it does shed light on Israel’s aerial refueling capability, which is a significant issue in the region.
Israel is already known to possess an aerial refueling capability, though some details are disputed. The Israeli air force (IAF) does in fact operate around five KC-130H tankers, a variant of the venerable C-130 Hercules. Less clear is the status of as many as five IAF Boeing 707s, the airframe of the long-serving U.S. Air Force KC-135 tanker. Several are known to be operational. Some reports suggest that all five of these aircraft are not only operational but also have been recently upgraded. We consider it highly likely that this is the case, and that Israel already possesses a significant aerial refueling capability.
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