The US Air Force (USAF) bid farewell to its last KC-10 Extender, one of the tanker aircraft used in its fleet, on September 26.
A ceremony marked the event at Travis AFB in California, where the 60th Air Mobility Wing is based.
The aerial refueling aircraft was developed by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) based on the widebody trijet DC-10 in the 1970s.
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The KC-10 was in service for almost 44 years, since its introduction on March 1, 1981. A total of 60 aircraft were delivered to the US Air Force until 1987, when production was ended.
The aircraft emerged as a more capable tanker than the Boeing KC-135, which had a much larger production run and is still used by the USAF today.
The KC-10’s replacement is the KC-46A Pegasus, a tanker based on the Boeing 767-200, of which 88 aircraft had already been delivered as of September.
The Air Force, however, plans to build a new stealth tanker from scratch to replace the current fleet and allow it to operate closer to the battlefield.
