WASHINGTON \u2014 With the July 15 refueling of the A-10 Warthog, the KC-46A has officially completed all flight tests needed ahead of a milestone decision this August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now the tanker program can a request approval from Pentagon acquisition head Frank Kendall to move forward with a Milestone C decision for low rate initial production, the Air Force announced Monday evening. That approval would allow the Air Force to award a contract to Boeing for LRIP 1 and 2, which amounts to 19 aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Today’s flight marks the final step we needed to see on the boom fix in order to request production go-ahead,” Brig. Gen. Duke Richardson, the Air Force program executive officer for tankers, said in a statement. “Our joint team’s tireless efforts are paying off, preparing us for the next step of this critical need to our warfighter.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the A-10 refueling, the KC-46A transferred 1,500 pounds of fuel to the Warthog, according to the Air Force. It previously conducting refueling demonstrations with the C-17 Globemaster II and F-16, which use the air refueling boom, with the F\/A-18 Hornet and AV-8B Harrier \u2014 Navy and Marine Corps aircraft that use a probe and drogue system \u2014 and with another KC-46.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Air Force announced the successful refueling of the C-17 and F-16 last week, a boon to the program after it was found that the KC-46 boom had difficulties refueling heavier aircraft such as the C-17. That problem contributed to a delay that pushed a Milestone C decision from June to August, and the delivery of the first 18 certified tankers to the Air Force from August 2017 to January 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The refueling boom has since been reworked and has conducted flight demonstrations since early July. The new design includes a bypass that helps control the flow of fuel when heavier aircraft are refueled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It is great to see the KC-46 boom back in action and the program moving forward to a production decision” said Col. John Newberry, the KC-46 system program manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still unknown is exactly how the program delay will affect Boeing’s bottom line. Under the fixed-priced contract negotiated by the Air Force and Boeing, the service is responsible for up to $4.9 billion of the cost of developing the aircraft. Boeing must pay for any cost overruns in excess of that sum, and has already been hit with $1.5 billion in penalties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With the July 15 refueling of the A-10 Warthog, the KC-46A tanker has officially completed all flight tests needed ahead of a milestone decision this August.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":29346,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3384],"class_list":["post-15896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pentagon"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"TXRDP3BKDNFIFDKPFHIPJXK6KU","arc_canonical_url":"\/pentagon\/2016\/07\/19\/kc-46-moves-closer-to-production-decision-after-successful-flight-test\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n