The Air Force is on track to receive the required 18 KC-46A tankers and to meet initial operational capability in August of 2017, despite some testing delays, USAF Vice Chief Gen. David Goldfein said Tuesday. Normally, aircraft would be produced and introduced into the force one by one, but in this case the Air Force will get “a number of aircraft all at once,” he told members of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support. There have been issues with some boom axial loads, but Goldfein said, “we think we actually have the software fix in place.” The Pegasus tanker recently refueled a Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier II in flight over Washington state using its hose and drogue system as part of its Milestone C demonstration, according to a press release. The new tanker also has refueled an F-16 and a Navy F-18A. (See also Tanker Time is Tight from the February issue of Air Force Magazine.)
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.