Five additional Air Force tanker aircraft will deploy to Diego Garcia along with the four tankers announced Tuesday.

All nine aircraft now deploying to Diego Garcia are KC-10 Extenders from the 60th Air Mobility Wing, Travis AFB, Calif. They will fly in support of the six B-52s deploying to Diego Garcia from the 2nd Bomb Wing, Barksdale AFB, La., which were announced Tuesday.

Upon further review of the operational requirements for the B-52s and the distances involved, it was determined that these additional tanker assets were required.