Three German Eurofighter EF2000s have completed a record-breaking endurance flight for the multirole fighter. Remaining in the air for a total of 10 hours 31 minutes, the trio of combat aircraft flew from Japan to Hawaii today, supported by aerial refueling tankers that included KC-135 Stratotankers operated by private aerospace firm Metrea, a contractor-owned and operated aerial refueling business that recently acquired 14 additional KC-135s from the French Air and Space Force.
The long-distance flight, part of the Pacific Skies exercise, which you can read more about here, began with the three Eurofighters taking off from Chitose Air Base in Hokkaido, Japan — where they had been taking part in the Nippon Skies 24 drill — at 9:02 a.m. local time.
Multiple refuelings were required to get the aircraft to Hawaii, including tankers flying from Guam, according to the official account from the Luftwaffe.
While eight refuelings were planned, the fourth scheduled refueling wasn’t required, with sufficient fuel already having been delivered by the first tanker. The sixth refueling rendezvous was also not required, due to a good tailwind.
“Never before has a Eurofighter been in the air for longer than this,” the Luftwaffe live-blogged, as the mission came to its conclusion. “After 10 hours and 31 minutes, the fighter jet touched down at Hickam Air Force Base in Pearl Harbor at 12:33 a.m. local time. Naturally, we toasted this with a Guinness.”
Now they are in Hawaii, the three German Eurofighters will take part in this year’s Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) international maritime warfare exercise alongside ships from the German Navy, and ships and aircraft from other nations.
Reportedly, the previous longest-duration Eurofighter mission involved an eight-hour and 36-minute flight by U.K. Royal Air Force Typhoons, when they were engaged in operations against Islamic State in the Middle East, on September 23, 2017.
It’s unclear how many tankers were involved in supporting the latest Luftwaffe mission, although at least one was provided by Metrea. We have also reached out to the company for more information. A video published by the Luftwaffe shows the Eurofighter flown by the detachment leader taking on fuel from one of Metrea’s KC-135s, using the probe-and-drogue method.
Metrea’s Jon “Ty” Thomas, head of the company’s Air and Space Group, did provide The War Zone with the following congratulatory statement about its Luftwaffe clients:
“We are proud to support our partners in the German Air Force as they executed this complex movement from Japan to Hawaii. 10.5 hours is a new record for the Eurofighter. Long flights over the Pacific are never simple, with few divert options and challenging weather. Ausgezeichnet, Luftwaffe! The German Air Force did an excellent job. I’m equally proud of our team at Metrea, who prepared and executed this mission with excellence. We look forward to more support for the German Air Force as part of Pacific Skies 2024.”
While the duration of the mission itself is an impressive achievement, it’s just as notable that it was enabled, at least in part, by contractor-owned and operated aerial refueling assets.
The mission comes in the same month that Metrea announced it was to dramatically expand its business with the purchase of 14 KC-135 tankers from the French Air and Space Force.
Transfer of ownership of the KC-135FR tankers to Metrea took place on June 26, according to a company press release, and the company said it planned to have the first of these aircraft flying under its banner “within weeks.”
Metrea currently operates four KC-135Rs it previously acquired from the Republic of Singapore Air Force.
With the French tankers now added, Metrea’s tanker fleet is by some margin the largest in private hands — in fact, it owns more aerial refueling aircraft than all but four air forces worldwide.
Providing refueling support to German Eurofighters underlines the thinking behind Metrea’s business model.
Earlier this month, “Ty” Thomas told The War Zone that the KC-135 had been “very deliberately chosen… as our platform of choice.”
Thomas continued: “From the perspective of a receiver, whether it’s a U.S. military receiver, or a NATO or an… otherwise allied receiver aircraft, if they find themselves in a position where they need help from the United States… and it includes help in terms of air refueling, what is the most likely tanker that’s going to pull out there in front of their receiver? It’s gonna be a KC-135. Why? Because the vast majority of tankers in the USAF inventory still remain KC-135s. And will even for probably the next 10 years or so.”
For Metrea, supporting the Luftwaffe’s long-distance flight is just the latest in a series of milestones.
These include the first use of a contractor-owned and operated tanker to refuel an aircraft via boom, the first commercial aerial refueling of any U.S. Air Force aircraft, and the first-ever use of a private tanker to refuel Air Force tactical combat jets (A-10 Warthogs) in April, June, and October 2023, respectively.
Nevertheless, as is so often the case with supporting tanker assets, it will be the German Eurofighters and their pilots and maintainers that win the plaudits for today’s record-breaking flight.
Of course, that is hardly undeserved, especially as the mission puts a spotlight on the German Armed Forces’ increasing focus on the Asia-Pacific theater, a reality that’s now reflected across several of Europe’s NATO nations.
Once again though, today’s long-distance flight reinforces the old adage, “nobody kicks ass without tanker gas,” and it’s increasingly the case that those tankers are being provided by private contractors as well as air forces.
Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com