The Air Force in the coming weeks will evaluate an interim fix to the KC-46’s troubled remote vision system to see if there would be any value gained, while still holding Boeing to its requirement to provide a broad, permanent fix to the system by ...
Draft versions of the 2021 defense policy bill in both the House and Senate will keep enough legacy tankers in the Air Force to “bridge” the fleet to the point where the KC-46 will become fully operational without extensive stress on the military’s refueling backbone, ...
The Air Force Weapons School plans to start graduating its first KC-46 experts in three years under a new weapons instructor course, the service said Aug. 5. A syllabus should be approved by next June, and the school anticipates that its first cohort of KC-46 ...
House lawmakers approved next year’s military funding as part of a six-part legislative package in a 217-197 vote July 31. The $1.3 trillion group of bills, known as a “minibus,” funds several areas of the federal government from the Justice Department to the Transportation Department. ...
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is eyeing new strides in artificial intelligence and biological technology as it lays plans for fiscal 2022, its acting director said July 30. Former DARPA Director Steven H. Walker’s departure to industry in January offers an “opportunity to rethink ...
Boeing must pay another $151 million out of pocket for the KC-46 program, the company announced in an earnings call July 29. This time, the company incurred the extra cost because the coronavirus pandemic is slamming the aerospace industry. Parts and work for the new ...
Air Mobility Command is partnering with Air Combat Command and the Air Force Weapons School at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., to create a KC-46 Pegasus Weapons Instructor Course, according to a July 24 AMC release. The team is working to incorporate the KC-46 into ...
The Air Force’s newest tanker has tested one of its other key missions —aeromedical evacuation. On July 10, a KC-46 and Airmen from the 931st Air Refueling Squadron and the 22nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron flew six sorties during a 17-hour mission across four bases to ...
The Air Force’s first KC-10 Extender is heading to the boneyard after 33 years of service, totaling more than 33,000 flight hours and refueling more than 125,000 aircraft. The KC-10, tail number 86-0036, was sent off in a ceremony July 13 at its last operational ...
The House Appropriations Committee passed its version of the 2021 defense spending bill by a 30-22 vote July 14, though dissenting Republicans warned of “poison pills” in the measure that would invite a veto. The bill includes $694.6 billion for the Pentagon, including $626.2 billion ...
House appropriators are planning to offer the Pentagon $694.6 billion for operations, personnel, and procurement, plus another $10.5 billion for military construction, in fiscal 2021. The Defense Department funding proposal is $1.3 billion higher than DOD received in fiscal 2020, but nearly $4 billion lower ...
A year after the House Armed Services Committee passed its fiscal 2020 defense policy bill in an unusually partisan fashion, the panel appears to be taking a step back from major fireworks and aerospace programmatic shifts in its 2021 legislation. The full committee’s version of ...