Air Refueling Aircraft Deployed for Vaccine Transport (Comprehensive)

Airbus D&S's A330 MATT Air Refueling Tanker

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] As the United States has agreed to provide COVID-19 vaccines for our military personnel, the military has decided to deploy an 'aerial refueling aircraft' to transport them from the U.S.

According to the military on the 31st, the Air Force's aerial refueling aircraft KC-330 will depart for the U.S. on the 2nd of next month, carry one million doses of the vaccine, and return to Seongnam Air Base on the 5th. The vaccines loaded on the KC-330 are from the American pharmaceutical company Janssen, which can be stored for three months at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius and for two years at -25 to -15 degrees Celsius. The KC-330 is equipped with temperature control functions and has the advantage of being able to make a round trip to the U.S. without mid-air refueling.

Once the vaccines arrive domestically, the government plans to vaccinate military-related personnel aged 30 and above. This includes approximately 538,000 reservists, about 137,000 defense and diplomatic personnel, and around 3.04 million civil defense members.

The KC-330 was also deployed in June last year for the operation to repatriate the remains of fallen soldiers from the Korean War, marking its first overseas transport mission. At that time, 239 remains returned to the homeland after 70 years. On the 30th of the same month, it was deployed for the rotation of the 16th and 17th contingents of the Ark Unit dispatched to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), flying approximately 7,000 km.

Defense Minister Seo Wook also traveled aboard the KC-330 when attending the 52nd Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) held in Washington DC, USA, in October last year. Additionally, in July last year, the KC-330 brought back 290 Korean workers from a construction site in Iraq amid the spread of COVID-19.