Pentagon OKs giving Boeing contract to build 19 Air Force tankers

Originally published August 12, 2016 at 4:01 pm Updated August 12, 2016 at 4:24 pm

The Air Force won permission from Pentagon officials to sign two production contracts with Boeing for the first 19 KC-46 tankers, deals valued at a combined $2.8 billion.

By

Tony Capaccio

Bloomberg News

The Air Force won permission from Pentagon officials to sign two production contracts with Boeing for the first 19 KC-46 tankers, deals valued at a combined $2.8 billion.

The approval came after a meeting of the Pentagon’s Defense Acquisition Board headed by Frank Kendall, the Defense Department’s top weapons buyer. The decision was announced by the Air Force in an emailed statement.

“I commend the team for diligently working through some difficult technical challenges,” Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said in the statement. “The KC-46 program has made significant strides in moving the Air Force toward the modernization needed in our strategic tanker fleet.”

The decision on initial, low-rate production had slipped from August 2015 and then from April of this year to resolve technical issues with the tanker’s refueling system. The final hurdle was cleared last month with the successful refueling of an A-10 Warthog that verified Boeing fixed flaws in the boom used for in-air refueling.

Boeing is in line to produce as many as 179 tankers under the $52 billion program.

A decision to approve full production — the most lucrative phase — has slipped to March 2018 from September 2017, the Air Force disclosed in March, as a result of cumulative delays in aircraft development from technical issues, such as wiring and the refueling system.

The KC-46, built on the air frame of Boeing’s 767 commercial jet, is the first new U.S. tanker since the 1980s. Boeing said in July that it would report a $2.1 billion after-tax accounting charge for the second quarter, primarily because of setbacks involving passenger planes but also due to a $393 million loss stemming from delays on the KC-46.

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Specifications

Data from USAF KC-46A, Boeing KC-767, Boeing 767-200ER

General characteristics

• Crew: 3 (2 pilots, 1 boom operator) basic crew; 15 permanent seats for additional/optional air crew members, including aeromedical evacuation crew members
• Capacity: seating for up to 114 people, 18 463L pallets, or 58 patients (24 litters, 34 ambulatory)
• Payload: 65,000 lb (29,500 kg)
• Length: 165 ft 6 in (50.5 m)
• Wingspan: 157 ft 8 in (48.1 m)
• Height: 52 ft 1 in (15.9 m)
• Empty weight: 181,610 lb (82,377 kg)
• Max. takeoff weight: 415,000 lb (188,240 kg)
• Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney PW4062 turbofan, 63,300 lbf (282 kN) each
• Fuel Capacity: 212,299 lb (96,297 kg)
• Maximum Transfer Fuel Load: 207,672 lb (94,198 kg)

Performance

• Maximum speed: Mach 0.86 (650 mph, 1046 km/h)
• Cruise speed: Mach 0.80 (530 mph, 851 km/h)
• Range: 6,385 nmi (12,200 km) ; global with in flight refueling
• Service ceiling: 40,100 ft (12,200 m)

Specification data source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_KC-46_Pegasus