Boeing Faces KC-46 Delivery Hiccup

The U.S. Air Force has halted delivery of one KC-46A Pegasus tanker to the 157th Air Refueling Wing because of “electrical problems,” according to a U.S. senator.

The delivery to Pease Air National Guard Base, New Hampshire, was scheduled for Oct. 2 but is now delayed, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) disclosed Oct. 1 during a Senate Armed Services readiness and management support subcommittee hearing. The hearing’s focus was on supply chain integrity.

“Now, I’ve spoken to a whole number of officials from Boeing [and] from our military leadership as recently as last week with Gen. [Jacqueline] Van Ovost, who is the head of Air Mobility Command, all of whom have assured me that we’ve had good conversations between the DOD and Boeing and that the problems are being worked out, we’re not going to continue to see these challenges,” Shaheen said to Pentagon acquisition chief Ellen Lord during the subcommittee hearing.

The hiccup comes on the heels of Air Force acquisition chief Will Roper telling reporters Sept. 23 that the service is “excited” about the new direction of the long-troubled KC-46 program.

The program’s turnaround is allowing Air Force officials to turn their attention to addressing other refueling problems.

Lord said the problems surrounding the KC-46 include design and engineering flaws and manufacturing issues. She did not specifically touch on the new “electrical problem.”

“The situation that led to a delay in this week’s planned KC-46 delivery to Pease Air National Guard Base is a minor electrical problem on this airplane that was found by our rigorous acceptance testing process,” Boeing told Aerospace DAILY. “It’s not a design or safety-of-flight issue. In flight, one of the radar warning receivers is indicating a fault through the plane’s fault management system.”

Boeing believes the problem may be a poor electrical connection that needs to be re-seated and is currently evaluating a fix it plans to implement within the next several days. The company is working with the Air Force on a new delivery schedule.