# What would prompt fighter jets to escort a plane?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-prompt-fighter-jets-to-escort-a-plane/561391>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 21, 2010, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-prompt-fighter-jets-to-escort-a-plane/561391 "2010-11-21T01:26:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-prompt-fighter-jets-to-escort-a-plane/561391/21 "2010-11-23T17:26:28Z")

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> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> Meanwhile, the tanker guys are launching a fresh set of tankers every so often to replace the airborne ones as they get sucked dry. And in a big show there might be 5 or 10 or 20 sets of these tanker orbits & fighter streams coming & going. It can make JFK on a Friday night seem pretty tranquil.

There’s a good graphical illustration of how complicated the logistics involved can become [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Refuelling.plan.black.buck.svg). This was the tanker formation required to deliver _one_ Vulcan bomber over the Falkland Islands during [Operation Black Buck](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Black_Buck). From Ascension, a round trip of about 15,000 km. Of course this was unusual, because there was no forward tanker basing - both the tankers and bombers having to be based at Ascension.

Scaling this up to a Gulf War sized engagement boggles the mind, although I’d imagine that there wasn’t a lot of tanker refuelling tanker going on.

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