With all the C-135FRs now replaced with Airbus A330 MRTTs, the final three French Boeing KC-135RGs of the 4/31 Sologne Refueling Squadron are all that is left of the mighty Boeing fleet. Frédéric Lert details how their retirement is now planned for 2025
A strange atmosphere reigns in Istres, in southern France. The oldest hangars and offices may have played host to General de Gaulle when the French nuclear force was created in 1964 but most of them are now empty.
A new technical area, with huge, shiny hangars, has been created to run the Airbus operations. On the Boeing side of the base, two aircraft stand on an almost empty apron. The third one must be in flight or in maintenance somewhere else.
“We will keep our last three Boeings together until the end,” explains Lt Col Guillaume, current commander of the Sologne squadron. “No date is yet precisely defined; all we know is that the withdrawal should take place in 2025.”
It’s pure logic: the C-135FR were removed from the service one by one, as the Airbus A330 MRTT Phoenix arrived. The first Phoenix was received in 2018 and the Bretagne squadron (within the 31st EARTS,…
