While Altus Air Force Base awaits the arrival of the new KC-46 Pegasus tanker and cargo plane, Boeing is pushing back on criticism about being late on delivery of the planes to the Air Force.
The push-back came even as Altus AFB recently carried a story how the flight-training for C-46 refueling tanker crews will be carried out in southwest Oklahoma.
While Boeing’s tallied up more than $3 billion in pretax charges due to cost overruns and schedule delays, Boeing’s defense sector CEO Leanne Caret says it shows the work is being done to get the product right for the military.
Last week, the company disclosed another $81 million-pretax penalty on the program in its financial report for the first quarter of 2018. Boeing is scheduled to deliver 18 certified tankers this year.
“The charges we took are tied to the certification efforts and the test efforts as we continue to finish up towards first delivery,” she said Thursday during a media visit to the company’s KC-46 production facilities in Everett, Washington.
Still, Boeing is struggling to deliver the first tanker this summer. And Altus AFB is ready.
“Since the KC-46 is coming to Altus, there has been an increase in manning to prepare the base,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Darin Dial, operations officer assigned to the 56th Air Refueling Squadron. “The 56th ARS was activated August 2016 and we have been preparing for the KC-46 since then. New construction and infrastructure improvements to support the new airframe and subsequent training operations are underway, as is training of operations and maintenance personnel.”
The KC-46 is being acquired as a better equipped tanker. The KC-46 will supplement and operate side by side with the KC-135 for many years to come. This is part of the Air Force’s long-term plan for improved tankers in the operational field.
Altus continues training KC-135 crews as well as preparing for the new KC-46.
“The KC-135 isn’t going anywhere any time soon,” said Dial. “The KC-135 is still a capable aircraft with plenty of personnel who operate within it. The KC-46 has better capabilities like being able to use boom and a centerline drogue system on the same sortie without needing to land to swap them. A drogue is used for a wider range of aircraft usually affiliated with the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and NATO. The aircraft also has Wing Air Refueling Pods that enable multiple refueling operations at once.”
