The KC-46 Pegasus, based on the commercial version of the Boeing 767, is due to land in the Air Force fleet in January 2018, a delay of five months from a previously scheduled date of August 2017.
In an interview with this newspaper about the high-profile contract, the program executive officer of the Tanker Directorate at Wright-Patterson in charge of the KC-46 program said the Air Force takes the schedule slip “very seriously” as it targets a one-for-one replacement of the entire tanker fleet of 455 fuel-hauling jets plus two dozen more.
“It’s very important the KC-46 schedule delays resolve themselves,” Brig. Gen. Duke Z. Richardson said. “We’re pushing very hard.” Of the transition to the new tanker, Richardson said, “We won’t be caught flat-footed.”
Boeing spokesman Charles B. Ramey said in an statement Tuesday the company would listen to the Air Force and address concerns in negotiations.
The KC-46 production system is “healthy” and the company is “continuing to build aircraft on pace for getting this capability to the Air Force as quickly as possible. The issues are well understood and we have a solid path forward,” the statement said. (end of excerpt)
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