A KC-10 Extender retired two years ago by the U.S. Air Force has emerged from the aircraft boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (KDMA) in Arizona to begin a new life as a commercial tanker for contracted aerial refueling services.
Eagle-eyed planespotters first noticed the KC-10A was back in action this month. According to FlightRadar24, the model flew from its temporary retirement home at Davis-Monthan to San Antonio International Airport (KSAT) last Tuesday.
The airport is a base of operations for Omega Aerial Refueling Services, which per FAA records is the owner of the modified DC-10 airliner, a model DC-10-30F registered N82247. A certificate was issued on October 6. Images recently posted to JetPhotos show the aircraft without its original aerial refueling boom.
Who’s Flying the KC-10?
According to The War Zone, N82247 was one of several KC-10s auctioned off by the U.S. General Services Administration to Omega in 2025. The outlet reported that each of the 10 models up for auction was missing one engine for unclear reasons, and that their booms were stripped to support other models still flying.
The tankers are designed to use either booms or a probe-and-drogue system. Omega has not announced when its KC-10A will enter operational service or what modifications it may receive. But the company could potentially install new booms.
Omega offers probe-and-drogue refueling using a converted KDC-10, which unlike the Extender was not purpose-built for military use, as well as a pair of KC-707As based on the Boeing 707. It also operates Boom-equipped KDC-10s that were first certified in 2017. The fleet includes a pair of KDC-10Bs previously owned by the Royal Netherlands Air Force, which according to Omega have the “capability to potentially refuel every operative type of receiver aircraft in U.S. military inventory,” such as the B/C variants of the F-35 Lightning II.
The company’s KC-10 Extenders could soon be very busy. According to its website, it handles global deployments supporting the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Air National Guard, Joint Special Operations Command, and allied aircraft. Per its most recent news release, the firm has flown more than 10,000 missions and offloaded more than 350 million pounds of fuel since 2000.
According to a news release, in November 2023, one of Omega’s boom-equipped KDC-10Bs refueled four Hawaii Air National Guard F-22 Raptors during a training mission. The company said this marked the first contracted, commercial tanker aerial refueling operation to a boom-capable, Air National Guard, and 5th generation fighter.
The same month, Omega’s KDC-10B provided what the company said was the first contracted aerial refueling support to U.S. Air Force fighters, fueling six Pacific Air Forces F-16 Fighting Falcons. Also in 2023, the company was certified to perform those services for boom-capable Navy aircraft.
Omega’s leadership includes former Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force officers. The aircraft are flown by former Air Force aerial refueling tanker pilots and other experienced military aviators.
Omega is the only confirmed future operator of the KC-10, but it may not be for long. An October 7 request for information published by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center seeks to identify possible operators that could restore and clear up to four KC-10s—considered excess defense articles (EDA) by the military—for delivery and return to service.
The four models would be transferred via EDA to an unidentified “partner nation in North Africa.” A contract would include a three-to-five-year sustainment package, in-country contractor logistics support, and training.
According to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, excess equipment is offered to eligible purchasers at reduced or no cost on an “as is, where is” basis.
KC-10 Extender’s Legacy
The Extender was a workhorse for the Air Force, capable of carrying more than 356,000 pounds of fuel in its six tanks, half on the wing and half under the cargo floor. That is nearly twice the fuel capacity of the KC-135 Stratotanker and comfortably more than the KC-46A Pegasus that replaced the KC-10.
The Air Force’s Pegasus fleet has faced numerous technical, design, and manufacturing challenges in recent years. In June, the Government Accountability Office found that its KC-135s and KC-46s face sustainment concerns and that its “critical fleet has consistently fallen below availability and capability standards.”
The KC-10 derives from the three-engine DC-10, modified to add military avionics and refueling systems. It was designed for a crew of four or five to fly up to 619 mph at 42,000 feet. Range was 3,800 nm with cargo or 10,000 nm without.
The type entered service in 1981. A total of 60 were built for the Air Force to serve as advanced tanker and cargo aircraft. The Extenders could refuel fighters while simultaneously transporting up to 75 personnel and nearly 170,000 pounds of equipment on overseas, medevac, and humanitarian deployments. They could support a variety of aircraft within the same mission.
The KC-10 was operated primarily by the 305th Air Mobility Wing at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (KWRI) in New Jersey and the 60th Air Mobility Wing at Travis Air Force Base (KSUU) in California, which retired the Air Force’s final model in 2024. It supported operations including Desert Shield and Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf, Allied Force in Europe, and Noble Eagle, Enduring Freedom, and Iraqi Freedom following September 11.