The Air Force has no margin left to accommodate fielding of the KC-46A aerial refueling tanker if Boeing [BA] misses its August 2017 deadline to deliver the first 18 aircraft.
“We have no schedule margin,” Air Force Lt. Gen Arnold Bunch, military deputy to the assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, testified March 1 before the House Armed Services subcommittee on seapower and projection forces.
“We’re still cautiously optimistic,” Bunch said. “Boeing still says that they can meet it. They are committed to that date. They have put additional resources to make that date.”
Despite delays, the program is still in the early stages of a lengthy and rigorous testing phase. The tanker has cleared several hurdles recently by demonstrating its ability to refuel F-16 and F-18 aircraft. It also received fuel from another tanker. That leaves flights to refuel a C-17, A-10 Warthog and the AV-8B Harrier aircraft to conclude Milestone C testing.
“We have made progress and we still have a lot of progress to go,” Bunch said.
The KC-46 eventually will replace the KC-135 tanker that is undergoing upgrades to keep it in service until the new aircraft is fielded. The Air Force is finishing up Block 45 upgrades that improve reliability and modernize cockpit avionics, Bunch said.
“On the 135 front, we are continuing to take an older generation of aircraft…and continue to keep it flying and viable through investment, smart engineering and teamwork with all parties involved,” Bunch said.
Hiccups in production and testing of the KC-46 have pushed back initial fielding by about six months, Bunch said.
“Until we can get enough of the test data and verify the performance, we can’t accept those aircraft and we can’t put them out in the field.”
Boeing is building four test aircraft–two 767-2Cs and two KC-46As. If the program is approved to enter LRIP, Boeing plans to build 179 KC-46As for the Air Force. Under the fixed-price incentive contract, Boeing is responsible for any cost overruns past the initial agreed-upon cost. Boeing already has incurred more than $1 billion in charges related to the delayed production and testing.
Boeing last year took a $536 million hit caused by problems with the tanker’s integrated fuel system, the final major system to be qualified on the KC-46. Boeing resolved the issue by adding engineering and other staff needed to support the engineering redesign, qualification, certification and manufacturing retrofit of the fuel system.
Missing the August 2017 deadline for delivery of 18 planes will result in further charges to Boeing’s books.
“We will go into discussions with [Boeing] for consideration,” Bunch said. “By consideration, I mean things that we the Air Force may want that we do not have in the contract today that we would negotiate…what we would get for any delays that occurred.”
“We have used consideration before in a lot of different areas,” he added.