The point of Air Force midair refueling is for when there isn't a convenient long, straight road that they can get a tanker to. Otherwise they would just land :

The point of Air Force midair refueling is for when there isn't a convenient long, straight road that they can get a tanker to. Otherwise they would just land :-) (also jet engines are really inefficient at low altitudes and it takes a lot of fuel to climb, so the other point is so that fighters don't expend the fuel getting back to altitude again)