Nozzle removal and expander wrenches

JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM (July 10, 2016) (from left to right) Staff Sgt. James Andrus and Senior Airman Travis Krause, U.S. Air Force crew chiefs with the 507th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., use expander wrenches to remove the boom nozzle from a KC-135R Stratotanker in order to connect a drogue adapter and drogue. The probe and drogue method of refueling uses a trailing hose with a basket on the end. Pilots guide a probe on their aircraft into the basket to connect with the hose. Air Force helicopters and all Navy and Marine Corps aircraft refuel using the hose-and-drogue for air-to-air refueling. Andrus, Krause and other Citizen Airmen are participating in the 25th Rim of the Pacific Exercise, which began in 1971 Twenty-six nations, more than 40 ships and submarines, more than 200 aircraft, and 25,000 personnel are participating in RIMPAC from June 30 to Aug. 4, in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California. RIMPAC is the world's largest international maritime exercise, which provides a unique training opportunity that helps participants foster and sustain cooperative relationships that are critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world's oceans. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Grady Epperly/Released)