{"id":32922,"date":"2020-06-09T13:26:45","date_gmt":"2020-06-09T13:26:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/06\/09\/the-air-force-delays-a-full-rate-production-decision-for-the-kc-46\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:40:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:40:26","slug":"the-air-force-delays-a-full-rate-production-decision-for-the-kc-46","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2020\/06\/09\/the-air-force-delays-a-full-rate-production-decision-for-the-kc-46\/","title":{"rendered":"US Air Force delays full-rate production decision for KC-46 aircraft"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 The U.S. Air Force will delay a full-rate production milestone for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2020\/04\/29\/boeing-gets-another-827m-charge-on-the-kc-46-program\/\" target=\"_blank\">the KC-46 aerial refueling tanker<\/a> to the end of fiscal 2024 to correspond with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/congress\/2020\/05\/22\/lawmakers-order-an-investigation-of-kc-46-technical-flaws\/\" target=\"_blank\">a fix for one of the aircraft\u2019s key systems<\/a>, the service announced late Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Pentagon\u2019s independent weapons tester \u2014 Director of Operational Test and Evaluation Robert Behler \u2014 intends to conclude operational testing of the KC-46 only after prime contractor Boeing fixes the tanker\u2019s critical deficiencies and has finalized its production configuration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAccordingly, the Air Force will defer the KC-46 full rate production decision until after the completion of [initial operational test and evaluation], and the receipt of the statutorily-required Beyond Low Rate Initial Production report from [Behler],\u201d the Air Force said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2020\/04\/08\/boeings-kc-46-tanker-now-has-a-pathway-for-autonomous-aerial-refueling\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/5947789.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Boeing\u2019s KC-46 tanker now has a pathway for autonomous aerial refueling<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The KC-46 has had its troubles, but it could end up revolutionizing aerial refueling.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The KC-46 program has several remaining category 1 deficiencies, the term used by the Pentagon to describe the most serious form of technical problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two of the deficiencies involve the aircraft\u2019s remote vision system, which is a series of cameras and sensors used by the boom operator to see outside the KC-46 and refuel other aircraft. The Air Force has contended that the RVS does not properly function in all weather and lighting conditions; the service has refused to deploy the KC-46 until the problem is fixed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Boeing in April <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/breaking-news\/2020\/04\/02\/done-deal-boeing-will-have-to-rip-and-replace-kc-46-sensor-and-camera-systems-on-its-own-dime\/\" target=\"_blank\">agreed to completely redesign the system<\/a> on its own dime, which will take until at least 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One other issue involves the KC-46 boom, which was developed to meet NATO-specific requirements but cannot refuel the A-10 aircraft. The Air Force<a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2019\/08\/06\/heres-why-boeing-is-getting-555m-to-fix-a-problem-with-the-air-forces-new-tanker\/\" target=\"_blank\"> is paying to redesign the boom actuator<\/a>, as the service signed off on the original design and did not realize until afterward that it did not meet the specifications needed to refuel the A-10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In March, the Air Force announced <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2020\/03\/31\/the-air-forces-kc-46-tanker-has-another-serious-technical-deficiency-and-boeing-is-stuck-paying-for-it\/\" target=\"_blank\">an additional category 1 deficiency<\/a> after maintainers found fuel leaking between the tanker\u2019s primary and secondary fuel protection barriers. It is unclear whether this is still a problem, as Boeing had already developed a fix and began retrofitting aircraft when the issue was revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cGiven its confidence in deficiency resolution timelines for both the aerial refueling boom and Remote Vision System, the Air Force is rescheduling the KC-46\u2019s Full Rate Production Decision milestone to late Fiscal Year 2024,\u201d the service stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force notes that delaying the full-rate production decision will not affect the program\u2019s cost \u2014 which is locked into place courtesy of a firm, fixed-price deal with Boeing that holds the contractor financially responsible for cost overruns;nor will it cause the service to alter its current delivery schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Boeing is already producing KC-46s at \u201cfull rate,\u201d which for the program is 15 tankers per year. It delivered the first KC-46 to McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas, in January 2019. Since then, Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma, and Pease Air National Guard Base, New Hampshire, have also taken on new KC-46s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Boeing is set to produce 179 KC-46s over the program of record. The company has racked up cost overruns of about $4.6 billion in excess of the $4.9 billion contract it was awarded in 2011.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What does that mean for program? Not much, actually, and here&#8217;s why.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":72525,"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":7,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[7,160,36,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3384],"class_list":["post-32922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air","category-daily-news-roundup","category-newsletters","category-pentagon"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"AMD5T4AZEZENPHUBNP2R6FYN5E","arc_canonical_url":"\/air\/2020\/06\/09\/the-air-force-delays-a-full-rate-production-decision-for-the-kc-46\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>US Air Force delays full-rate production decision for KC-46 aircraft - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What does that mean for program? Not much, actually, and here&#039;s why.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US Air Force delays full-rate production decision for KC-46 aircraft\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What does that mean for program? Not much, actually, and here&#039;s why.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2020\/06\/09\/the-air-force-delays-a-full-rate-production-decision-for-the-kc-46\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-06-09T13:26:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T22:40:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Valerie Insinna\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Valerie Insinna\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/09\\\/the-air-force-delays-a-full-rate-production-decision-for-the-kc-46\\\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/09\\\/the-air-force-delays-a-full-rate-production-decision-for-the-kc-46\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"author\": {\n\t                \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"headline\": \"US Air Force delays full-rate production decision for KC-46 aircraft\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2020-06-09T13:26:45+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-07T22:40:26+00:00\",\n\t            \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/09\\\/the-air-force-delays-a-full-rate-production-decision-for-the-kc-46\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"wordCount\": 518,\n\t            \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/09\\\/the-air-force-delays-a-full-rate-production-decision-for-the-kc-46\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/5995586.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"articleSection\": [\n\t                \"Air Warfare\",\n\t                \"Daily News Roundup\",\n\t                \"Newsletters\",\n\t                \"Pentagon\"\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"CommentAction\",\n\t                    \"name\": \"Comment\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/09\\\/the-air-force-delays-a-full-rate-production-decision-for-the-kc-46\\\/#respond\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/09\\\/the-air-force-delays-a-full-rate-production-decision-for-the-kc-46\\\/\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/09\\\/the-air-force-delays-a-full-rate-production-decision-for-the-kc-46\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"US Air Force delays full-rate production decision for KC-46 aircraft - Defense News\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#website\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"primaryImageOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/09\\\/the-air-force-delays-a-full-rate-production-decision-for-the-kc-46\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/09\\\/the-air-force-delays-a-full-rate-production-decision-for-the-kc-46\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/5995586.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2020-06-09T13:26:45+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-07T22:40:26+00:00\",\n\t            \"description\": \"What does that mean for program? 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