AMC deputy commander stresses long-range airpower and mobility integration at AFA 2026

Maj. Gen. Gerald Donohue, deputy commander of Air Mobility Command, used a high-profile panel at the Air and Space Forces Association’s Air, Space and Cyber Conference on Sept. 15 to underscore how tankers and strategic airlift underpin U.S. long-range strike missions, citing recent operations Midnight Hammer and Epic Fury as examples. He spoke alongside Maj. Gen. Ty W. Neuman, who leads Eighth Air Force and the Joint-Global Strike Operations Center, and Jamie Burgess, vice president and general manager for Mobility, Surveillance and Bombers at Boeing.

“When we think about the way we’ve been able to project power, whether it be from the continental United States or from other locations where it’s forward-postured, Air Mobility Command, the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Command — who are undergoing the biggest mobilization in a generation or two — have been committed all in and extraordinarily effective,” Donohue said. “A tanker fleet that is largely defined by 70-year-old aircraft, sustained by extraordinary maintainers and supported by a global enroute structure to ensure it is ready to meet the challenge, has delivered.”

Neuman said the bomber force and tanker fleet function as a tightly linked system during deep-penetration missions. “In the near term, we have to have a combat bomber force that has the long-range strike capability, supported by our AMC brethren, to get to the fight with the appropriate capabilities to inflict the necessary pain and suffering on the adversary,” Neuman said.

Donohue outlined AMC’s modernization priorities for the refueling fleet—connectivity, survivability and viability—arguing that more robust networking is central to mission success across the joint force. “Largely today, some of our forces still operate the way they did 20 years ago, and they don’t have the connectivity that you have when you get on your flights to head home,” Donohue explained. “Epic Fury and Midnight Hammer underscored the importance that connectivity plays — not only to our own survivability, but more importantly, to the success of the Joint Force.”

He also emphasized the scale of the mobility enterprise required to enable global strike. “When we talk about Midnight Hammer, most public attention rightly focuses on the extraordinary stealth bomber aircrews who executed the mission. What most Americans don’t fully understand is the dozens and dozens of tankers and airlift assets that were necessary to make that happen,” Donohue stated.

While noting that the KC-46A Pegasus is adding important capability, Donohue cautioned that modernization will take time and legacy aircraft will remain central for years. “The last KC-135 pilot has not been born,” Donohue said. “That is just a statement of fact when we consider the time it takes to modernize and so we will have to sustain our legacy platform as well as our newest platforms and ensure that the Joint Force is supported by being able to execute the mission.”

He closed by thanking mobility Airmen across the active-duty, Guard and Reserve components who execute the mission worldwide. “The nation should be proud of its mobility Airmen,” Donohue concluded. “Whether it’s in our global AOC, the 618th Air Operations Center, our contingency response, or our global air mobility support structure…we have set the theater. And then ultimately, to the tanker aircrews who made every one of the [Air Refueling Control Times] to ensure that [Neuman’s] team can deliver the desired effects, we should all be proud of what that force is able to accomplish.”