The days of the legendary workhorse tankers, KC-135 and KC-10, at JB MDL, are numbered. The base had plans to open its gates for an Air & Space Open House in 2020, but the global Coronavirus Pandemic halted those plans. In 2022, the base was planning an open house, but the installation's heavy involvement in the Non-Combatant Evacuation of personnel from Afghanistan during Operation Allies Refuge and the subsequent Operation Allies Welcome prevented that show from occurring.
During the past five years, the base's own Air Force tanker fleet has seen much activity and change, with new training and infrastructure work in process in preparation for the new Boeing KC-46 Pegasus. On May 11, 2023, a KC-10 tanker of the 305th AMW took off on a training sortie from the base for the final time.
The KC-10s being demonstrated at the Open House were flying for the last time until June 22, when the bases final KC-10 heads to Davis-Monthan AFB to retire. As of last weekend’s airshow, there are three KC-10s at JB MDL and the only other base that will operate KC-10s is Travis AFB in Northern California. The 305th AMW has 13 Pegasus tankers with plans to receive 11 more by fiscal year 2026.
The New Jersey Air National Guards 141st Air Refueling Squadron has 6x KC-135’s and by September of this year, they too will be gone from the installation. The 141st at JB MDL will be sharing the bases KC-46s, with KC-46 training currently in process for the NJ ANG. By the close of this year, the entire Air Force tanker fleet at JB MDL will be a single-type airframe.