Aviation Week reported that the Pentagon’s operational test and evaluation office “has collected all the data it can on the Boeing KC-46A Pegasus, as it awaits two key fixes to the tanker – a revamp of the aircraft’s wing refueling pods and the long-awaited redesign of its Remote Vision System.”
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Tag: KC-46
KC-46 Deliveries Suspended Due to Boom Issue
Aviation Week reports, “The U.S. Air Force has not taken delivery of KC-46 tankers from Boeing in more than two months as a new issue on the aircraft’s boom was discovered during inspections.”
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KC-46 Deliveries Remain Paused, But Boeing Still Hopes to Meet 2023 Goal
Aviation Week reports that deliveries of the Boeing KC-46 tanker to the US Air Force “are still paused amid an ongoing problem with the aircraft’s fuel tanks, though the company’s defense chief says he is still committed to meeting the overall 2023 goal.” Getting to that goal “of 15 aircraft this year means a lot of pressure.”
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Boeing Partners with Aurora to Enhance KC-46A Pegasus’ Defensive Capabilities
Janes reports that The Boeing Company announced at the Paris Air Show on June 20 that it will partner with “Aurora Flight Sciences to enhance the defensive capabilities of its KC-46A Pegasus tanker-transport aircraft.” Boeing said that Aurora Flight Sciences is “leading the research and conceptual design of composite components geared at enhancing operational survivability for aerial refuelling and mobility missions. … This work will also focus on producibility and manufacturing at Aurora’s Columbus, Mississippi, manufacturing facility.” According to Boeing, the KC-46A Pegasus “already features defensive systems and data integration for multimission aerial refuelling support closer to the battlespace than existing tankers.” Boeing said, “With more data for the crew and fleet, including recent Block 1 upgrades to further enhance connectivity, the Pegasus can see and relay threat information to joint force warfighters for greater fleet survivability and mission success.”
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USAF Expects Boeing to Retrofit KC-46 with Remote Vision System in Two Months
Aviation Week reports that the US Air Force (USAF) says it expects The Boeing Company “to be able to retrofit a KC-46 with the new Remote Vision System (RVS) 2.0 in about two months at the company’s Florida facility, once the design is set.” Boeing and the USAF first announced a plan to overhaul the tanker in April 2020.
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KC-46 Flies First Combat Refueling Sortie
Aviation Week reports that the Boeing KC-46 “has flown its first combat refueling sortie as part of an exercise to employ the tanker downrange before it is officially operational.” A KC-46 deployed to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar “fueled up two Boeing F-15E Strike Eagles” on August 29.
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KC-46 Approved for TRANSCOM Missions
Air Force Times reported that Air Mobility Command announced Friday that the KC-46 Pegasus tanker “is now able to refuel the Air Force’s fourth-generation fighter jets during missions for U.S. Transportation Command, expanding the service’s air refueling capacity and the capability of its newest tanker.”
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US Air Force Approves KC-46 to Perform Limited Refueling Operations
Air Force Times reported that the US Air Force “has approved the Boeing KC-46 tanker to move into limited operations with its centerline drogue system, allowing the aircraft to be tasked for everyday refueling missions that meet certain criteria.” Air Mobility Command Commander Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost said, “The last six months of operational use and programmatic evaluation indicate conditions have been met for (interim capability release) declaration of the Centerline Drogue System mission set. … This decision reflects a risk-informed, data-driven, constraint-analyzed approach to releasing KC-46A operational capabilities to the joint force.” The Air Force “plans to declare full operational capability only after its six critical deficiencies are resolved. At earliest, this will occur in 2023 when The Boeing Company begins delivering KC-46s equipped with a new remote vision system, which provides visual imagery to boom operators during a refueling.”
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KC-46 Key Fixes Will Not be Completed Before 2026
Bloomberg reports that the US Air Force’s “latest schedule for fixing, verifying and installing improved versions of key equipment on its refueling tankers built by Boeing Co. shows the work won’t be complete before early 2026, or 15 years after the company won the contract.”
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KC-46 Cleared to Refuel More Aircraft
Aviation Week reports that the US Air Force “has cleared the KC-46 to refuel five more aircraft types as part of a rollout of interim capabilities before the tanker is fully operational. U.S. Transportation Command can now task the KC-46 to refuel AC-130Js, HC-130Js, MC-130Js, C-5Ms and E-3Gs.”
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DARPA Envisions KC-46 as Recharger for UAVs
Aviation Week reports that DARPA “has launched a new project that sees a fresh role for the U.S. Air Force fleet of aerial tankers as airborne recharging points for networks of electric-powered UAS by adding a wing-mounted laser pod.”
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KC-46’s Faulty Trim Kept Emergency Door from Opening
Air Force Times reported that a “problem with the trim on the KC-46A Pegasus’ overwing exit doors kept it from being able to open, which could have hindered passengers’ ability to escape during an emergency.” The US Air Force’s engineers “worked with KC-46 manufacturer” The Boeing Company “to create and issue a time compliance technical order to modify the refueling tankers’ doors in the field.”
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