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Three KC-46s wait on the flightline at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey. The base has received the only KC-46s delivered so far this year.
Boeing started the first half of 2024 with a slowdown in KC-46 deliveries due to a new fault in the aircraft’s boom, setting back the company for the second year in a row.
The U.S. Air Force tells Aviation Week that it had not accepted a new tanker from Boeing since March 1, after an inspection discovered a broken boom gimbal nut lockwire. The gimbal is a swivel joint that provides boom movement in all three axes; the nut secures the boom to the gimbal.
“Deliveries were paused while production and fielded aircraft completed inspections to ensure continued safety of the fleet and receivers,” an Air Force spokesperson says. “The [Air Force] completed all aircraft inspections and resumed the aircraft acceptance process; two aircraft are undergoing final inspection stages and are expected to deliver by May 31.”
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“We are working closely with the customer to mitigate any impact to the fleet and are committed to delivering the KC-46A with a focus on safety and quality,” Boeing said in a statement.
The company, however, contested the Air Force’s use of the term “pause,” stating that the production line was slowed as the inspection process played out. Boeing announced two deliveries on Feb. 8 and March 1 to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey. These brought the service’s total fleet to 82; another four were delivered to Japan.
The halt in deliveries mirrored a similar situation from 2023, although this one is expected to be shorter. Tanker deliveries were halted for almost six months because of a problem with Daher-supplied fuel tanks used in both the civilian Boeing 767 and the KC-46. Later that year, deliveries were again halted for what the Air Force said was a contractual red-tape issue with the Defense Contract Management Agency. Despite having just one tanker delivered by mid-July 2023, the company was able to finish the year having handed over 14 jets.
In addition, Boeing and the Air Force are overhauling the Remote Vision System (RVS), a process that started in 2020 and is now expected to slip into 2026—about a two-year delay. Andrew Hunter, the Air Force’s assistant secretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, said in a May 15 Senate Appropriations Committee hearing that the two largest challenges to the program are getting FAA certification and acquiring the needed microelectronics.
The overall RVS 2.0 retrofit is undergoing a Schedule Risk Assessment to inform future retrofit plans, according to the Air Force. “RVS 2.0 is an extensive modification that requires significant collaboration between Boeing, the [FAA] and the [Air Force] to complete certifications/qualifications,” the service said in a statement.
On May 7, Leonardo announced it had received a contract from Boeing to build the air-refueling operator station for the new RVS system. The company had designed the original station and delivered more than 85 consoles.
Boeing has regularly taken charges on the tanker program; the latest earnings report in April added another $128 million to that tally. Despite the overruns and delays, Boeing Chief Financial Officer Brian West said on a first-quarter earnings call that the program “continues to show good progress” and that the delivered aircraft are “performing in the field.”
Boeing is looking ahead to the next production lot award for the program to provide needed cash flow; the Lot 10 award from November 2023 totaled $2.3 billion for 15 aircraft. Speaking on May 23 at the Wolfe Research Global Transportation & Industrials Conference, West highlighted the expected Lot 11 award as part of the “favorable receipt timing” that will benefit the company in the second half of the year.
The Air Force is looking ahead to its Next-Generation Aerial-Refueling System and Boeing KC-135 recapitalization program. The latter is expected to be an additional buy of up to 100 KC-46s. In the near term, the Air Force has increased the KC-46’s program of record to 183 tankers from the previously planned 179.
“This continues tanker production and leverages cost efficiencies,” the Air Force said in a statement. “The increase of four additional KC-46A tankers is contractually viable and provides the best price to the taxpayer for the needed capability.”
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