{"id":55843,"date":"2020-03-31T01:36:38","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T01:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/03\/31\/the-air-forces-kc-46-tanker-has-another-serious-technical-deficiency-and-boeing-is-stuck-paying-for-it\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:06:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:06:40","slug":"the-air-forces-kc-46-tanker-has-another-serious-technical-deficiency-and-boeing-is-stuck-paying-for-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2020\/03\/31\/the-air-forces-kc-46-tanker-has-another-serious-technical-deficiency-and-boeing-is-stuck-paying-for-it\/","title":{"rendered":"The Air Force\u2019s KC-46 tanker has another serious technical deficiency, and Boeing is stuck paying for it"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 The Air Force on Monday logged<a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/coronavirus\/2020\/03\/27\/heres-how-covid-19-is-impacting-the-air-forces-most-important-weapons-programs\/\" target=\"_blank\"> another critical technical flaw for the KC-46 tanker<\/a>, this time revolving around excessive fuel leaks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under its contract with the service, KC-46 manufacturer Boeing is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/breaking-news\/2019\/01\/10\/boeing-delivers-first-kc-46-but-fixes-to-technical-problems-still-years-away\/\" target=\"_blank\">responsible for paying for a fix to the problem<\/a>, Air Force spokeswoman Capt. Cara Bousie said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Air Force and Boeing are working together to determine the root cause and implement corrective actions,\u201d she said. \u201cThe KC-46 program office continues to monitor the entire KC-46 fleet and is enhancing acceptance testing of the fuel system to identify potential leaks at the factory where they can be repaired prior to delivery.\u201d<\/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\/03\/03\/a-fix-for-the-kc-46-is-already-a-year-late\/\" 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=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6083129.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\">A fix for the KC-46 is already a year late<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Boeing is projected to begin rolling out a fix in 2023-2024.<\/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 problem was first discovered in July 2019, but the Air Force did not say why the issue had been escalated to Category 1 status \u2014 the designation given to problems with a significant impact on operations or safety. The service also did not immediately comment on questions about what sort of receiver aircraft were most involved with the deficiency or the severity of the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Boeing spokesman said that the Air Force had discovered 16 aircraft in need of repair, and that seven have already been fixed. <\/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\/congress\/2020\/02\/25\/air-force-mulls-halt-to-tanker-retirements\/\" 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=\"199\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/191207-Z-SW430-913.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\">TRANSCOM head pushes back against Air Force tanker retirements<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The head of U.S. Transportation Command is pushing the Air Force to rethink some of its controversial plans to retire some of its older aerial refueling aircraft.<\/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\">\u201cThe KC-46 fuel system is equipped with redundant protection for fuel containment. In some cases with this issue, aircraft maintenance crews are finding fuel between the primary and secondary fuel protection barriers within the system,\u201d the company said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Boeing is working with \u201cutmost urgency\u201d to address the problem and implement a fix to the remaining aircraft, the statement said. A Boeing spokesman added it would take about 10 days to retrofit each aircraft at the rapid response depot facility in San Antonio, Texas. The fix was also being incorporated into production line in Everett, Wash., which is currently undergoing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/coronavirus\/2020\/03\/23\/kc-46-p-8-production-to-stop-as-boeing-temporarily-shuts-down-production-in-puget-sound-area\/\" target=\"_blank\">a temporary suspension due to COVID-19<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The latest Category 1 deficiency brings the total up to four:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/coronavirus\/2020\/03\/27\/heres-how-covid-19-is-impacting-the-air-forces-most-important-weapons-programs\/\" target=_blank>tanker\u2019s remote vision system or RVS<\/a> \u2014 the camera system that allows KC-46 boom operators to steer the boom into a receiver aircraft without having to look out a window and use visual cues \u2014 provides imagery in certain lighting conditions that appears warped or misleading. Boeing has agreed to pay for potentially extensive hardware and software fixes, but the Air Force believes it will system won\u2019t be fully functional until 2023-2024.<\/li><li>The Air Force has recorded instances of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2017\/09\/22\/air-force-aims-to-fix-three-kc-46-deficiencies-before-key-milestone\/\">boom scraping against the airframe of receiver aircraft<\/a>. Boeing and the Air Force believe this problem is a symptom of the RVS\u2019s acuity problems and will be eliminated once the camera system is fixed.<\/li><li>Boeing must redesign the boom to accommodate the A-10, which currently does not generate the thrust necessary to push into the boom for refueling. This problem is a requirements change by the Air Force, which approved Boeing\u2019s design in 2016. Last year, Boeing&nbsp;<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\/\">received a $55.5 million contract<\/a>&nbsp;to begin work on the new boom actuator.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Boeing\u2019s fixed-priced firm contract for the development of the KC-46 has a $4.9 billion ceiling that leaves the company responsible for any expenses billed in excess of that amount. So far, the company has paid <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/industry\/2018\/10\/24\/boeing-adds-another-179m-in-cost-overruns-to-kc-46-as-delivery-draws-near\/\">more than $3.5 billion of its own money<\/a> to fund corrections to ongoing technical issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The KC-46 is back up to four critical &#8220;Category 1&#8221; deficiencies.<\/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":[7,160,12,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3384],"class_list":["post-55843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air","category-daily-news-roundup","category-industry","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"KCDHVLGVONB4BNMEMXIGLBHKMA","arc_canonical_url":"\/air\/2020\/03\/31\/the-air-forces-kc-46-tanker-has-another-serious-technical-deficiency-and-boeing-is-stuck-paying-for-it\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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