US Marine Corps test pilot Lt. Col. Patrick Moran completed the first F-35C air-to-air refueling from a drogue-equipped US Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker during a flight off eastern Maryland on 20 August 2013. The flight, which originated at the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division test facility at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, was the 217th flight in the first F-35C carrier variant test aircraft, designated CF-1. All three variants of the F-35 are now qualified to refuel from a KC-135.
