March Air Reserve Base (ARB) began construction on a cutting-edge hangar facility for the Boeing KC-46A Pegasus multi-role tanker in December 2025. Upgrades to air traffic control (ATC) machinery and other structures that will support the operations of the US Air Force’s newest tanker platform are included with the new maintenance facilities.

It is projected that the aircraft will be fully delivered by 2028, according to The Press-Enterprise. The $250-million-worth of new flight simulators, general maintenance, specialized fuel cell maintenance, and other support facilities are due to be finished by then. The project is being managed by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in preparation for the new aircraft that will take the place of the departing Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker.

New Plane, Same Mission

March is expected to be a key strategic hub for the Pegasus fleet over the next 50 years, as a power projection platform for the US Air Force. Construction is expected to take approximately three to four years. While the first Boeing KC-46A tankers were initially expected sooner, delivery to March ARB is currently projected for 2028 due to manufacturing delays.

The groundbreaking in 2025 was to begin work on the two-bay hangar for maintenance. Heavy equipment is currently demolishing concrete to rebuild the tarmac at a higher elevation to match the height requirements of the new hangars. Two new, taller air traffic control antennas were installed in early 2026 to replace older ones that would have been physically blocked by the taller KC-46 buildings.

Congress has provided hundreds of millions of dollars specifically to upgrade March ARB’s infrastructure ahead of KC-46 basing. A new flight simulator is being installed to provide local training for the 144 additional personnel expected to join the base for this mission, along with classrooms and other projects included in military construction budgets totaling over $240 million to prepare March ARB’s infrastructure for the new tanker mission.

Why March Airfield?

March Air Reserve Base (ARB) was chosen to host the KC-46A Pegasus tankers based on an Air Force assessment of several key factors, including its strategic location, existing infrastructure, strong community support, and cost-effectiveness. The base already possessed significant infrastructure, including hangars, runways, and ramp space that could be adapted to the new aircraft, although major upgrades were still necessary due to the KC-46A’s larger size compared to the older KC-135s.

March ARB was the only candidate location that already had an active-duty association with reservists, guardsmen, and active-duty personnel from all branches of the military present on the base, allowing for an effective integration of the new mission. The decision allows the base to replace its aging fleet of KC-135 Stratotankers (some nearly 70 years old) with more reliable, modern aircraft with enhanced capabilities.

The USAF factored in the cost of the transition, and March ARB presented a viable option for modernizing the fleet efficiently. When the Air Force invests hundreds of millions in infrastructure, it wants confidence that the base will still exist in 50 years. There was significant, bipartisan support from local stakeholders and members of Congress, who actively advocated for the base to be selected. This support was seen as a major asset during the selection process.

March ARB: Tanker Country

March Air Reserve Base became a tanker base in the late 1950s, right as the KC-135 was entering service. The KC-135 was designed primarily to support Strategic Air Command (SAC) bombers. The KC-135s provided essential aerial refueling capabilities, supporting numerous missions worldwide during their service at the base. In the early 1990s, March AFB was closed as an active-duty base during BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure).

The Air Force Reserve’s 452nd Air Refueling Wing (now the 452nd Air Mobility Wing) at March AFB received its first KC-135 tanker in 1976. The main unit operating the KC-135s was the 336th Air Refueling Squadron, which is part of the 452nd Air Mobility Wing. Over the years, the aircraft at March, like others in the Air Force fleet, underwent upgrades, including being re-engined into the more efficient KC-135R models.

Under the 452nd Air Mobility Wing, March’s KC-135s became some of the most heavily tasked Reserve tankers in the force. The KC-135 was a workhorse aircraft that played a crucial role in Air Force global operations for nearly 70 years of its total service life. The Stratotanker began to be phased out in the early 2020s to make way for the new KC-46A program. March ARB held a final KC-135 flyover in May 2020 as the aircraft prepared for retirement from the base. The base currently has a few remaining KC-135s as the transition to the Pegasus continues.

Raising The Roof

The primary reason for the March ARB facelift is that the KC-46A is physically much larger than the KC-135. Built on a Boeing 767 airframe, the Pegasus is taller, longer, and wider than the 707-based KC-135, meaning existing hangars were too small to fit the aircraft. Specifically, the Pegasus is 11 feet taller, 25 feet wider, and almost 30 feet longer. Although the two aircraft have a similar fuel payload, the multirole mission capacity of the KC-46 makes it a much larger airframe.

Because the Pegasus is significantly heavier when fully loaded with cargo and fuel, the tarmac and taxiways are being reinforced with thicker concrete to prevent the ground from cracking under the increased weight. The KC-46 not only requires bigger and stronger infrastructure, but because of the more technologically complex systems inside the airplane, it requires more delicate handling as well. That means hangars that are not only bigger, but with superior temperature and humidity control, as well as higher security.

The new $133 million maintenance hangar is built at a higher ground level. The surrounding concrete tarmac must be completely ripped up and re-paved at an incline to match the new hangar’s floor height. Because the new hangars are so much taller, they would have physically blocked the signals from the base’s old antennas. The KC-46A’s digital systems require entirely new flight simulators and a fuselage trainer to practice the complex loading of cargo and medical patients.

The KC-46 Difference

Unlike its predecessor, the KC-46A is built for contested environments, featuring more resilient and survivable structures, infrared countermeasures, and electronic warfare capabilities to ward off missiles. Beyond just being bigger, the KC-46A is a data hub. While the KC-135 was strictly for gas and transport, the Pegasus can receive and transmit real-time battlefield data to other aircraft. It can also operate in blackout conditions using advanced night vision and thermal sensing. While the KC-135 was historically just a ‘flying gas station,’ every KC-46A Pegasus coming to March rolls off the line with a host of advanced capabilities.

While the KC-135 can generally refuel only one aircraft at a time, the KC-46A can refuel multiple aircraft simultaneously using both a boom and wing-mounted, hose-and-drogue systems on a single mission. The Pegasus holds three times more cargo pallets, twice as many passengers, and has 30% more capacity for aeromedical evacuation than the KC-135. The boom operator of the KC-46A no longer lies down and looks through a rear window; instead, they use a 3D digital station in the front of the plane with a panoramic view of the refueling area.

The KC-46 is also capable of aerial refueling itself, whereas many KC-135 aircraft cannot tank in the air and therefore are unable to remain on station as long as the Pegasus can. Very few KC-135s can refuel themselves in flight. Unlike the new KC-46A, which is built with a standard receiver capability, the KC-135 was originally designed as a one-way fuel provider. Because so few tankers can be refueled, only a small number of receiver-capable crews are specifically trained and qualified for these delicate maneuvers, which creates the requirement for new training facilities at March ARB.

Pegasus’ Troubled Takeoff

The KC-46A’s journey from a troubled aircraft to its current status as the Air Force’s premier multi-mission platform is thanks to numerous engineering overhauls and a shift in how the military views tankers. While it faced years of scrutiny for ‘Category 1’ deficiencies, several critical breakthroughs have changed its reputation. The KC-46’s refueling boom was initially too rigid, making it dangerous for lighter aircraft like the A-10 Warthog to push against it. The Boom Telescopic Actuator Redesign (BTAR) is currently in progress and expected to roll out in 2027.

Boeing and the Air Force developed RVS 2.0, a complete redesign featuring 4K full-color digital sensors and 3D displays. The first flight of an RVS 2.0-equipped Pegasus took place in November 2025. While full fleet retrofitting is expected by summer 2027, the system is finally meeting modern clarity standards. Because the Pegasus is now outperforming expectations in the field, the Air Force announced in July 2025 that it would bypass a competition for a new « bridge tanker » and instead buy up to 75 more KC-46As.

In September 2022, the Air Mobility Command officially certified the KC-46A for worldwide combat deployments. It has now logged over 150,000 flight hours. In 2025, it successfully completed a 45-hour non-stop mission spanning three continents, proving its endurance. The total fleet is expected to reach over 250 aircraft when all current procurement orders are fulfilled. There are now over 180 in service.