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KC-46
A recovery plan for the Boeing KC-46 pushes the arrival of the Remote Vision System (RVS) 2.0 upgrade by more than a year and converts five early-build aircraft into feedstock for spare parts, the U.S. Air Force says.
The plan will increase fleet availability by 6% in the near term and 30% by 2030, William Bailey, acting assistant secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, told the House Armed Services Committee during a May 13 hearing.
The Air Force refused to accept Boeing’s original RVS solution in 2017, prompting a two-year delivery freeze. Deliveries resumed after Boeing agreed to pay for an improved RVS 2.0 and deliver the new system in 2023. As recently as November, Boeing executives said they planned to deliver the system by December 2026, or nearly four years late.
The recovery plan says the 2028 delivery of RVS 2.0 represents an “acceleration” of the schedule, suggesting that the internal Air Force and external Boeing schedules were not aligned.
The KC-46 has also suffered a higher rate of maintenance issues than expected. Air Force officials have said the KC-135, a 65-year-old fleet type, enjoys a better readiness rating across the fleet, despite dealing with several concerns common to aging aircraft.
The Air Force now plans to harvest engines, landing gear and other components from the five early-build KC-46s to help boost the fleet availability rate.
“Though it is performing admirably, the fleet still faces readiness challenges, requiring daily heroics from the crews on the ground to address those challenges,” Bailey told lawmakers.
The Air Force is also accelerating retrofit plans that are designed to resolve two of the worst mechanical flaws that are causing KC-46 availability rates to drop, Bailey added.
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