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Air Force intends to designate its next aerial refueling aircraft the KC-45, regardless of whether Boeing’s KC-767 or Northrop Grumman’s KC-30 wins the KC-X tanker replacement contest. USAF has confirmed this to the Daily Report. The Air Force approved the designation on Nov. 14, 2006, based on an Air Mobility Command recommendation, says USAF spokeswoman Lt. Col. Jennifer Cassidy. The Army Air Corps originally used the C-45 designation in 1937 for the Beech Model 18 aircraft that was converted into a light utility transport known as the Expeditor and that saw action in World War II, she says. News of the KC-45 is not new. The defense trade press actually reported it late last year, but the news failed to hit the mainstream. Meanwhile, we’re still waiting on the name for the KC-45, not to mention the announcement of the winner. The latter isn’t expected until late February at the earliest.
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.