Most of those KC-135 Stratotanker jets from Fairchild Air Force Base that you often see passing over Spokane soon will be operating with one less crew member.


New computerized avionics systems that eliminate the need for a navigator currently are being installed on the Fairchild-based 92nd Air Refueling Wings 54 KC-135s. That will reduce the jets crews to three membersthe pilot, co-pilot, and fuel-boom operator.


The pilot just has to learn more and do more tasks. Its basically more responsibility for the pilot and co-pilot, says Lt. Khalid Cannon, a base spokesman.


Cannon says a field team from Mississippi-based Raytheon Aerospace Co. began making the modifications to the KC-135s here in late 1998 and has completed work on almost 44 of them. By 2002, the U.S. Air Forces entire fleet of more than 500 tankers is expected to be equipped with the new systems, a Raytheon spokesman says.


The 10 KC-135s here that are operated by the Washington Air National Guards 141st Air Refueling Wing had been scheduled to receive the new avionics systems next spring. However, those plans now are uncertain because the wing recently learned that four of its planes will be replaced or upgraded with quieter, more efficient engines and other improved systems at a cost of about $104 million.


Cannon says the cost of the modifications to the 92nd Air Refueling Wings KC-135s is about $1.25 million per jet, which would put the overall cost of the modifications at about $67.5 million.


The new systems that are being installed go by the name Pacer CRAG, which comes from the chosen name Pacer and the acronym for compass, radar, and global-positioning system. Cannon says the systems include four multifunction displays, two flight-management systems, and a color weather radar. They convert the jets basically from a round-dial to glass-cockpit environment, he says, referring to the switch from analog, electro-mechanical indicators to new liquid-crystal displays.


Traditionally, the navigators job has been to plot the position and course of the plane using electronic navigational equipment and other aids; to monitor weather equipment and fuel usage; and to report to the pilot during flight.


Using the new system, pilots reportedly can detect cloud formations, wind shear, and other weather hazards, and identify their position anywhere in the world within a few meters, as well as verify their speed, bearing, and altitude, through satellite communications.


Cannon says the loss of navigators in the KC-135s here isnt expected to have a significant effect on employment at Fairchild, which employs more than 5,000 people, counting military and civilian personnel. He says the navigators will be reassigned, but hes not sure if that will be here or elsewhere.


The new avionics systems arent the only improvements being made to Fairchilds KC-135s. The base newspaper reported last fall that seven of the tankers will be outfitted this year with new multipoint refueling systems that will allow them to refuel both receptacle-equipped and probe-equipped aircraft on the same mission, making the tankers more versatile. Those retrofits will be done at Boeing Co.s Wichita plant at a cost of about $2 million per plane, the paper said.


KC-135s are configured to refuel U.S. Air Force aircraft with a telescoping boom that is inserted into a receptacle on the receiving plane. The problem is that U.S. Navy, Marines Corps, and NATO aircraft all use probes for refueling, rather than receptacles. If a KC-135 needs to refuel such a plane, it must be fitted temporarily with a boom drogue adapter for the mission, and then is limited on that mission to refueling probe-equipped aircraft.


The boom drogue adapter currently used on the KC-135s consists of a stiff, nine-foot hose and a rigid metal basket that slides over the probe. The new multi-point refueling systems will include drogue pods, with longer hoses and soft baskets, that are mounted externally near the tip of each wing. They will allow the KC-135s to refuel Air Force planes from the boom and Navy, Marine, and NATO planes from the wing pods on the same mission. They also will allow simultaneous refueling of two probe-equipped planes.


Fairchild is the third Air Force base to get the new multipoint refueling systems, behind McConnell in Kansas and Grand Forks in North Dakota. Fairchilds first plane fitted with the new system is expected to be ready to return to the base in mid-August, with modifications to the six other jets to continue through 2002.