Transportation Working Capital Funds for Tankers

The purpose of this research was to identify a way to insert market forces in the supply and demand relationship of air refueling to help decrease monetary costs. Specifically this research focused on answering two questions regarding the amount of money used to carry fuel that is scheduled to be offloaded but not taken by receiver aircraft and whether there is a program in place that can be used to help prevent excess fuel from being requested. These research questions were answered through a comprehensive literature review and analysis of one year's worth of local training sorties from an Air Mobility Command active duty KC-135 squadron. Use of the Transportation Working Capital Fund to pay for air refueling was shown to be a possible solution to bring demand more in line with the supply of air refueling assets and to bring more efficiency to the overall system. Specific monetary costs were identified and both the risks of keeping the status quo of the air refueling system and the risks of changing the system were identified and discussed.