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Business Insider flew with a Royal Air Force Voyager aerial refueling tanker this week.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
The Voyager refueled British and Swedish fighter jets in Eastern Europe, close to Russian territory.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
This is what it’s like in the tanker, which is crucial for enabling long-distance air operations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
ABOARD A BRITISH VOYAGER AIRCRAFT \u2014 With rows of economy seats, overhead baggage bins, television screens, and illuminated seatbelt signs, the cabin of this Royal Air Force tanker looks nearly identical to that of a commercial jetliner.<\/p>\n
But out the window, NATO fighter jets<\/a> are flying just a few feet away, receiving fuel from the Voyager at nearly 30,000 feet and at speeds around 300 miles per hour near the militarized Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. It’s a fast and dangerous job, where even the slightest mistake could be deadly.<\/p>\n The Voyager \u2014 essentially a flying gas station carrying enough fuel to keep fighter jets flying for thousands of miles \u2014 is the RAF’s only air-to-air refueling tanker<\/a>, crucially allowing the UK to extend the range of NATO air operations.<\/p>\n Business Insider embarked on a Voyager flight this week for a NATO mission in support of Eastern Sentry<\/a>, defensive operations that include air patrols launched in mid-September after roughly 20 Russian drones<\/a> violated Polish airspace.<\/p>\n Since then, NATO fighter jets \u2014 enabled by the Voyager aircraft<\/a> \u2014 have regularly flown patrols, missions, and training exercises along the Eastern flank of the alliance, serving as a warning to Russia.<\/p>\n