Kc 46 News - A member of the KC-46A crew, based in New Hampshire, refuels a US Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet off the coast of Maryland on July 1, 2020. This is the first time a crew on a system use a KC-46A midline drogue to refuel aircraft. (Pictured: Zach Fisher, US Navy Lieutenant)
WASHINGTON - The Air Force has approved the transfer of a Boeing KC-46 tanker to limited operations with a central drogue system, allowing the aircraft to perform routine refueling missions that meet certain criteria.
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The US Air Force said in a press release on Monday that the decision was signed on July 9 by General Jacqueline Van Ovost, commander of the Air Mobility Command.
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"Operational deployment and program evaluation over the past six months indicate that the validation (interim feature release) conditions for the Centerline Drogue System mission set have been met," Van Ovost said. This closure presents a risk-informed, data-driven and limited research approach to demonstrating the KC-46A's operational capabilities to the Joint Force."
Continued testing has proven that the KC-46 can be used safely and reliably for reconnaissance and drug refueling operations, the service said in a news release. However, Boom refueling missions will still be limited to training, practice and familiarization flights due to an unresolved technical glitch affecting Boom and related systems.
Van Ovost told reporters in February that AMC would consider assigning the KC-46 to the US Transport Command for a limited set of missions.
At the time, Brig. Gen. Ryan Samuelson, the Air Force KC-46 multitasking team leader, said the tanker would not be approved for TRANSCOM operations in the Middle East, Asia Pacific or Europe, and would not be allowed to refuel to do Stealth aircraft such as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
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However, the service's announcement on Monday did not clarify whether those restrictions would be maintained for midline inspection and drogue missions.
The Air Force plans to buy at least 179 KC-46s to replace its fleet of KC-10s and some legacy KC-135s. After that, the US Air Force will continue to buy the KC-46 or begin acquiring other non-developmental refueling aircraft such as the Airbus A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport as the remaining KC-135s arrive the end of their lives.
The Air Force plans to declare full operational capability only after addressing six critical deficiencies. As early as 2023, Boeing will begin deliveries of KC-46s equipped with a new remote vision system, providing visual images to booster operators during refueling.
Valerie Insinna is an air war correspondent for Defense News. She previously worked as a staff writer for National Defense Magazine for nearly three years before doing the Navy/Transportation column for Defense Daily. Before that, he worked as an editor at the Washington branch of the Tokyo Shimbun.
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Now known as the KC-46 Pegasus, the aircraft is based on a modified version of the company's 767 commercial transport aircraft to provide fuel to other aircraft in flight, freighters, and transporters (including enter injured).
The KC-46 will play an important role in supporting US forces and their allies overseas in future military operations.
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Without it, some critical missions, both nuclear and non-nuclear, cannot be accomplished due to the limited number of combat aircraft.
However, the Pegasus has been in service longer than the Air Force or Boeing expected because of a fault in the remote vision system used to direct refueling boosts to the receiving aircraft. .
The Air Force continues to fund much new production of the aircraft, but a final decision on peak production has been delayed until 2024, seven years later than originally planned.
I have been following this saga since Boeing won the contract during the Obama presidency. Partly because Boeing added to my think tank.
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Here are six facts about the Pegasus that put the program's delays into context and why it remains the future of aerial refueling for the US Joint Force.
The KC-46 is certified to refuel most American fighters, bombers and transport aircraft. The Air Force Air Refueling Systems Evaluation Group has already determined that the KC-46 is suitable for use on most service aircraft.
This includes the F-15, F-16, F-22 and F-35 fighter jets. B-52 and B-1 bombers; C-5 and C-17 transport aircraft; and several other aircraft, including all types of the Navy's sea-based F/A-18 fighter jets.
Certification requires testing tankers in flight with all types of aircraft to get under various operating conditions. The process went smoothly.
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The certification process will allow Pegasus to refuel all fighters in the joint fleet that are capable of using in-flight fuel.
The Air Mobility Command and other agencies determine when the KC-46 will enter the operational fleet, but there are no certification issues that would prevent its use.
The KC-46 goes through more than 2 million pounds of fuel per month. If you thought Pegasus wasn't ready to refuel another aircraft, think again. In April, Pegasus delivered 2.3 million pounds of fuel to other aircraft, primarily on Air Mobility Command training missions.
During its relatively short life, the tanker made 23,000 calls by receiving aircraft and passed 37.9 million pounds of fuel.
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For example, KC-46s were used to refuel F/A-18 fighters flying over the Army and Navy games and F-35 fighters flying near the White House during a visit Polish presidential state.
The aircraft itself is in good working order, as are the main refueling functions. The modified 767-200 jet airliner used on the KC-46 features a modified cockpit display from the 787 Dreamliner, a significant improvement over the standard tanker.
Putting the engines on the KC-46 makes it possible to refuel, so air force personnel fly the plane just as the pilot gets it.
A rugged assembly used by the Air Force to transfer fuel from a tanker to a interceptor aircraft, which evolved from a similar system used on the KC-10 tanker, is working as intended.
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The main problem with the lubrication system can be fixed soon. The most notable feature of the KC-46 so far is the remote vision system, which allows the operator to perform refueling from the cockpit area rather than lying at the rear of the aircraft.
There is nothing particularly new about this system. All tankers built since the 1980s have used cameras to guide the stalls, with no operators behind them.
However, there are some lighting conditions where the vision system does not provide enough clarity to accurately place the magnification in the receiving aircraft, which the Air Force wants to be corrected before the tanker is put into action.
Preliminary design review of the solution appears to have been successfully completed and installation of RVS 2.0 is expected to begin in late 2023.
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Even without the fix, the problem is limited to certain daylight hours. The challenges of using conventional remote vision systems only arise when the sun is low in the sky, meaning early morning or evening.
Existing systems work well when the sun is high in the sky, when the sun has set, and when tankers are doing covert operations.
The system uses a long-wave infrared camera at night to help guide a booster to a receiving aircraft, part of an existing system that appears to be very effective .
Some issues are not specific to the KC-46 and are unique to refueling missions. When performing aerial refueling, your eyesight is critical to your safety and success.
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It has recently been reported that operators are having trouble seeing the last part of the boom when they apply it to the receiving aircraft.
Unfortunately this problem also occurs with other Air Force tankers. Boeing decided to change the color of the success's livery to increase the contrast with the receiving aircraft.
Glare is a common problem in aerial refueling regardless of the type of tanker used, but changing the aircraft's orientation to the sun by 10 degrees can significantly reduce glare.
All the above considerations lead to a unique conclusion. The problems that plague Pegasus are manageable and
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