Boeing KC-46A Tanker for U.S. Air Force Completes First Flight

By Chuck Oldham (Editor) Defense Media Network via Ron Perron

The first operational KC-46A Pegasus completed its first flight Dec. 5, 2017, and will be delivered to the U.S. Air Force next year, according to a Boeing news release.

The KC-46A’s first flight lasted approximately 3½ hours, and included a climb to the aircraft’s maximum altitude of 39,000 feet, operational checks on engines, flight controls, and environmental systems as part of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-approved flight profile.

“Today’s flight is another milestone for the Air Force/Boeing team and helps move us closer to delivering operational aircraft to the warfighter,” said Col. John Newberry, U.S. Air Force KC-46 System program manager.

The KC-46A that flew Dec. 5 is the seventh tanker in the program, but the first production-standard aircraft built for delivery to the Air Force. The previous six aircraft used for testing and certification were pre-production examples, but have accumulated more than 2200 flight hours, with the tanker-configured versions carrying out more than 1,600 contacts during refueling flights. The KC-46 fleet has so far refueled F-16, F/A-18, AV-8B, C-17, A-10, KC-10 and other KC-46 aircraft. The tanker is derived from the Boeing 767 commercial aircraft airframe.

JB McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, Travis AFB named next KC-46A locations

WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Air Force officials selected Joint Base McGuire Dix Lakehurst, New Jersey, and Travis Air Force Base, California, as the preferred locations for the next two active-duty-led KC-46A Pegasus bases.

Twenty-four KC-46A aircraft will replace the legacy aircraft currently at each of those bases.

“Joint Base McGuire Dix Lakehurst and Travis AFB were chosen as the next two active-duty-led KC-46A bases because they meet all operational mission requirements at the best value for the Air Force and the American taxpayer and support our tanker recapitalization strategy," said Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James. "It is absolutely essential that we continue investing in the next generation of tanker aircraft so we have the aircraft necessary to maintain the nation's global reach for years to come."

Fairchild AFB, Washington, and Grand Forks AFB, North Dakota, will be considered as reasonable alternatives during the environmental impact analysis process which is required before a final basing decision is made.

At this time, the Air Force is planning to divest the legacy tankers after growing the tanker fleet to meet its 479 tanker requirement. The timeline is dependent on the KC-46A delivery schedule, but it is not anticipated to reach sufficient KC-46A fleet size and begin legacy divestment at the first location until 2019.

“The KC-46 will afford combatant commanders extended refueling capabilities, improved global reach, and enable timely joint-service response to humanitarian crises and contingency operations around the world,” said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein. “In fact in the fight against (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), the Air Force and joint and coalition partners depend on gas from our tankers. In 2016, the coalition flew over 13,600 tanker sorties, fueling aircraft nearly 80,000 times, delivering about 800-million pounds of fuel.”

Altus AFB, Oklahoma; McConnell AFB, Kansas; Pease Air National Guard Station, New Hampshire; and Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina; have already been selected as future KC-46 basing locations. The first KC-46As are expected to begin arriving at McConnell and Altus AFBs in fall of 2017.

The KC-46A will provide improved capability, including boom and drogue refueling on the same sortie, worldwide navigation and communication, airlift capability on the entire main deck floor, receiver air refueling, improved force protection and survivability and multi-point air refueling capability.

Travis AFB and JB McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst currently host the McDonnell Douglas KC-10 Extender.

America's Next Tanker is Finally Going to Fly

America's new aerial refueling tanker, the Boeing KC-46A Pegasus, is set to make its first flight from Boeing's Paine Field in Everett, WA this Friday. It's about time: America's existing airborne tanker fleet is stunningly old. Derived from Boeing's Dash 80 (the prototype of the 707 airliner), the KC-135 Stratotanker entered service with the USAF in 1957. The Air Force currently operates more than 400 of them as KC-135Rs or KC-135Ts. The newest KC-135 currently in the inventory was built in 1964, though it was upgraded along with the others to KC-135R configuration with new engines in the 1980s. Avionics and cockpit upgrades continued through 2014. The KC-135Rs are expected to remain operational until 2040, nearly a century after they were first built. But even with the upgrades, keeping a tanker flying so long inevitably presents reliability and cost problems. So gradually replacing the KC-135 with a new tanker has been an Air Force priority for more than a decade.

It just hasn't gone very well.

The long and troubled history of the tanker replacement effort stretches back to the early part of the last decade, when the Air Force announced the purchase of 80 Boeing KC-767 aircraft and the lease of 20 more. The Pentagon froze the contract in December 2003 and cancelled it in January 2006 following public revelations of corruption connected to the contract. A subsequent KC-X program selected the EADS/Northrop Grumman KC-30 (renamed the KC-45A for the U.S.) over the KC-767 in early 2008. Boeing protested that selection, leading to a new competition in 2010. This time around Northrop dropped out and the Pentagon chose Boeing's 767-based tanker design (KC-46A) in February 2011. Boeing is slated to build 179 KC-46As for the Air Force by 2027 at a unit cost of $188.5 million (in fiscal year 2015
dollars).

Boeing says the KC-46 "promises to revolutionize the air mobility mission." Setting aside that grandiose talk, what we know right now is that the airplane can refuel all U.S., allied, and coalition military aircraft compatible with international aerial refueling procedures. It also has the ability to play other roles for the military, such as carrying passengers, cargo, and patients. The KC-135R can do these things, too, but Boeing says the KC-46 offers room for three times more cargo pallets, up to twice as many passengers, and more than 30 percent more aeromedical evacuation patients compared to the KC-135R. The KC-46 can take off from shorter runways and is far more fuel efficient as well.

Of all the Pegasus's advantages, perhaps the most important is simply that it's a new airplane. The Pegasus' aircrew will enjoy improved situational awareness with a fully modern cockpit and refueling station, the former using 15-inch 787-style advanced electronic displays, redundant displays, and controls. The aircraft can refuel using both its fly-by-wire boom and wing-mounted hose-and-drogue systems. The Pegasus is designed to operate through a nuclear or biological attack, and is hardened against an electromagnetic pulse. According to Boeing, sections of the aircraft are also armored against medium-caliber gunfire though just where a KC-46 might encounter medium caliber gunfire (at low altitude/on the ground?) is an interesting question.

Those improvements come with a marginal increase in fuel delivery capacity. According to the Air Force, the KC-135R has a maximum transfer fuel load of 200,000 pounds (that's how much fuel it can give to other planes or UAVs). The KC-46's maximum transfer fuel load is 207,672 pounds-an increase of less than one percent despite the Pegasus' greater size, takeoff weight and thrust. The KC-135R can also carry more cargo (83,000 pounds) than the KC-46 (65,000 pounds) according to the Air Force.

Still, the KC-46's newness is crucial to Air Force tanker support. Boeing is required to deliver 18 operational tankers to the fleet by August 2017, a timeline that makes this Friday's first flight hugely important, particularly since Boeing was forced to postpone the first flight earlier this summer after a problem with the aircraft's refueling line during testing. It's a tense time: Boeing is under pressure to deliver on schedule or risk losing the contract. Likewise, the government risks breaching the contract with a continuing resolution because it may then not be able to buy
the contractually agreed number of airplanes in the first couple years.In an interview with Defense News Air Force Gen. Mark Welsh said, "We're at a point now where we really need to see the first flight of this tanker."

http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a17421/kc-46-tanker-first-flight/

Air Force: New Tanker’s First Flight Delayed by Months

Kris Osborn at Military.com is reporting that wiring problems with the Air Force's new KC-46A Pegasus tanker have delayed the highly anticipated first flights of the developmental refueling aircraft by several months.

The first flight of the KC-46A baseline test aircraft has been delayed from this past August to late November. Plans for the first flight of actual KC-46A variant will slide from early 2015 to April 2015.

You can see the rest of his copyrighted story at http://www.military.com/daily-news/2014/09/16/air-force-new-tankers-first-flight-delayed-by-months.html?ESRC=dod-bz.nl.

KC-46 enters critical design review phase

by Senior Airman Tabitha N. Haynes, Air Force District of Washington

WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- The Air Force KC-46A program director described the critical development phases of the next-generation refueling aircraft during the 2012 Air Force Association Air and Space Conference and Technology Exposition in Washington, D.C., Sept. 18.

Maj. Gen. John F. Thompson, program executive officer for Tanker Programs, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, said that while KC-46's preliminary aircraft design review is complete, additional steps must be taken to develop a final aircraft design that meets system requirements.

Thompson added that 18 months into the aircraft development program the KC-46A is on track for critical design review in the fourth quarter of next year.

"There is a possibility in any program to have 50 number one priorities; I have never believed in that concept," Thompson said. "I will have a lot of number two and ... number three priorities, but my number one priority ... is to successfully get through the critical design review next year."

The aircraft configuration will advance, Thompson explained, from the commercial Boeing model 767-200ER aircraft to a Boeing model 767-2C Provisioned Freighter variant before final modification into a military certified KC-46 tanker, Thompson explained.

Select design features will allow the aircraft to carry out its "multi-role capabilities," including cargo transportation, passenger transportation and patient transportation (in addition to its primary role of aerial refueling)," Thompson added.

The KC-46 aircraft features an improved refueling system with 212,000 pounds of fuel delivery capabilities, capability to receive fuel in flight, 65,000 pounds of cargo carrying capability, passenger aero-medical capabilities, and engines each producing 62,000 pounds of thrust.

"Our goal is one program, one plan," Thompson said. "We are actually bending metal on this aircraft -- it is not just a paper design anymore."

Currently, testing has begun for the KC-46. Testing to date includes live fire and system integration lab testing.

"From a sustainment and supportability standpoint ... our goal is to go to 100 percent organically managed sustainment on this weapon system," Thompson said.

This means the Air Force may partner with industry for certain sustainment repair activities, but will remain in the lead for management purposes.

Despite the work that still remains in the KC-46 development, 18 next-generation refuelers are scheduled to join the fleet by 2017, Thompson said, adding that a total of 179 KC-46 aircraft are slated to be delivered by 2027.

Air Force announces criteria for basing KC-46A

WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- After extensive internal review, the Air Force released today its basing criteria that will be used to select candidate bases for the KC-46A formal training unit and first two main operating bases.

The formal training unit (FTU) and first main operating base (MOB 1) will be led by active duty units. The second main operating base (MOB 2) will be led by an Air National Guard unit. The FTU and MOB 1will begin receiving aircraft in FY16. MOB 2 will receive aircraft in FY18.

The basing criteria for the MOBs, approved by Secretary of the Air Force Michael B. Donley and Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton A. Schwartz, include mission (proximity to refueling receiver demand, airfield and airspace availability, fuels considerations, and the potential to establish an association), capacity (hangar, runway, ramp space and facility considerations), environmental requirements and cost factors.

The basing criteria for the FTU, approved by the secretary of the Air Force and the chief of staff of the Air Force, include mission (proximity of aircraft available to support air refueling training, student throughput, aircrew training systems, fuels considerations, and the potential to establish an association), capacity (hangars, runway, ramp space and facility considerations), environmental requirements and cost factors.

"The KC-46A tanker is a critical force multiplier and essential to the way this nation fights its wars and provides humanitarian support around the globe," explained Schwartz. "The KC-46A is a game changer, and will be a great asset to the nation, not only as a tanker, but as a means to augment the airlift fleet, provide aeromedical evacuation and transport of passengers and cargo."

"The Air Force is committed to an open and transparent process to address KC-46A basing," said Kathleen Ferguson, Air Force deputy assistant secretary for installations, "As we progress through the basing process, we will share information so interested communities are aware of what to expect."

The Air Force will evaluate all sites within the defined enterprise against the approved criteria. This information will be used to identify candidate bases for the KC-46A. After the release of the candidate bases, Air Mobility Command will conduct site surveys at each candidate base.

Site survey teams will assess each location against operational and training requirements, potential impacts to existing missions, housing, infrastructure, manpower, and develop cost estimates to determine how to beddown the KC-46 at each location.

Based on the results of these efforts, the Air Force plans to announce KC-46A preferred and reasonable alternatives and begin the environmental impact analysis process (EIAP) for the FTU and MOB 1 in December 2012. Likewise, the Air Force plans to announce the preferred and reasonable alternatives and begin the EIAP for MOB 2 in the spring of 2013.

"This enterprise-wide look enhances our ability to create, protect, and sustain all air and space forces across the full range of military operations," said Ferguson. "It is a deliberate, standardized, and transparent process."

Air Force on track with KC-46A program

by Master Sgt. Amaani Lyle, Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs

WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Air Force and Boeing Company officials met for the KC-46A program post-award conference recently to discuss program specifics, including a technical overview of the program.

The discussions, which took place in Harbour Pointe, Wash., featured details of the in-line production process, draft integrated master schedule, and logistics support and training. Air Force officials toured the production line in Everett, Wash., where Boeing will manufacture the KC-46A.

During a recent interview with the Defense Writers Group, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley discussed the KC-46A acquisition process and said the service's senior leaders applied lessons learned from the previous tanker-acquisition process.

"We closely evaluated why we did not succeed the previous time," Secretary Donley said. "We took a long time to do that (with) several months of intense internal analysis and debate on what the strengths and weaknesses of our previous proposal had been."

After careful evaluation of the prior selection effort, Secretary Donley said, Air Force leaders pared down to essential requirements, built a solid team with the Office of the Secretary of Defense and other participating services, and maintained discipline throughout the process.

"We staked out what we thought was the best deal for the warfighter and the best deal for the taxpayer in terms of how to structure that in the (request for proposal), and we stood by it," Secretary Donley said.

The KC-46A is the first phase of a three-phase tanker aircraft recapitalization effort, and the program will deliver 18 tankers by late fiscal year 2017.

Air Force officials noted the aircraft's improved capability will include boom and hose/drogue refueling on the same mission, worldwide navigation and communication, cargo and passenger configurations on the entire main deck, improved force protection and survivability, and multi-point air refueling capability.

With a maximum fuel capacity of more than 212,000 pounds, and the ability to transfer more than 207,000 pounds of fuel, the KC-46A features a refueling receptacle that allows the aircraft to receive fuel from other boom-equipped tankers at a rate of 1,200 gallons per minute. This capability will allow the KC-46A to dramatically extend its reach and flexibility for missions.

The KC-46A, a commercial variant of the Boeing 767 airliner, is to be bought on a fixed-price basis, according to Air Force senior leaders. Additionally, any significant changes to the contract will need to be approved at a high level within the Air Force, further limiting potential cost increases.

Air Force pilots, officials said, will benefit from state-of-the-art systems that meet future mission requirements, to include a glass cockpit with 15-inch diagonal, multi-functional electronic displays containing an array of flight information and weather data.

The KC-46A is intended to replace the Air Force's aging fleet of KC-135 Stratotankers, which has been the primary refueling aircraft for more than 50 years.

Service officials said the new aircraft is designed to be combat-ready from day one and offers more refueling capacity, enhanced capabilities, improved efficiency, and increased capabilities for cargo and aeromedical evacuation.

It will provide aerial refueling support to Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and allied nation aircraft.

Air Force announces next tanker aircraft

by Capt. Chris Sukach, Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs

WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Air Force and Defense Department officials announced the award of an engineering and manufacturing development contract valued at more than $3.5 billion for the KC-46A aerial refueler to The Boeing Company today.

Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley said in the briefing that many factors were evaluated during the tanker selection process.

"This selection process determined whether or not the proposals demonstrated the ability of an offerer to deliver all 372 mandatory requirements and whether non-mandatory capabilities would be addressed," said Secretary Donley, emphasizing that both offerers met the mandatory requirements. "It also took into account fleet mission effectiveness in wartime, and life cycle costs as embodied in fuel efficiency and military construction costs."

Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn noted the "competition favored no one except the taxpayer and the warfighter."

The Air Force-led selection effort included experts from the larger DOD community, including staff from the Office of the Secretary of Defense and independent review teams during each step of the process.

The thorough and transparent selection process was marked by continual dialogue with offerers to ensure the Air Force had a clear understanding of their proposals and the companies clearly understood the service's analysis of their offers, said Secretary Donley.

Secretary Donley also highlighted that the warfighter was in charge of stating the requirements for the tanker, and that meeting those requirements enables the aircraft to go to war on day one.

"General Schwartz and I are confident in the fact that when our young pilots, boom operators and maintainers receive this aircraft, they will have the tools they need to be successful at what we ask them to do," the secretary added.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz shared the secretary's sentiment.

"I'm pleased with how this has produced an outcome after an exhaustive effort by hundreds of the department's very best people, that we will get about delivering the capability that's long overdue," General Schwartz said.

While the focus of the briefing was on the award of the contract, Secretary Donley addressed basing considerations for the aircraft, stating that those decisions involve other organizations and will take place over the next couple of years.

Secretary Donley also reiterated the service's commitment to provide quality equipment to the warfighter.

"To the men and women of our Air Force, today's announcement represents a long-overdue start to a much-needed program," Secretary Donley said. "Your Air Force leadership, supported by Dr. (Ashton) Carter and others throughout the Department of Defense, is determined to see this through, and we will stand behind this work."

Air Force and DOD officials complemented both offerers and thanked congressional oversight committees and their staffs for working with the department during the contract process that served the warfighter and taxpayers well.

The program expects to deliver the first 18 aircraft by 2017.

Click here for some Quick Facts about the KC-46A