The U.S. Air Force is looking for industry help to build Aircrew Training Devices (ATDs) for the Aircrew Training System (ATS) of the KC-46A Pegasus tanker, made by Boeing [BA].
“The objective of this market research is to determine if any contractor has the capability to provide the needed production of Aircrew Training Devices and engineering, manufacturing, and development work for incomplete program requirements for KC-46 Aircraft Training System (ATS) for the period of 1 Jan 2026 to 1 May 2028,” a May 30 business notice by Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.
A winning contractor would field the ATDs, including a Boom Operator Trainer (BOT), and required computer systems at MacDill AFB, Fla.
The company would field the first BOT by August 2026 and a “second BOT device” based on the Remote Vision System 2.0 (RVS 2.0), by Jan. 1, 2027.
AFMC said that the initial RVS 2.0 Software Development Plan (SDP), which covers integration of RVS 2.0 on the KC-46A, is to be delivered in January “with updates based on the final RVS 2.0 SDP projected to be delivered in” the first quarter of 2026.
The Air Force and Boeing agreed on the RVS 2.0 redesign of the original RVS on April 2, 2020 to fix faulty RVS depth perception.
The Air Force awarded Flight Safety Services Corp. a 13-year fixed-price incentive contract for ATS on May 1, 2013, including $78 million for engineering and manufacturing development. Flight Safety Services Corp. is now part of FSI Defense–a company under Berkshire Hathaway-owned [BRK.A/BRK.B] FlightSafety International, bought by Berkshire Hathaway in 1996.
Last October, FlightSafetyInternational won a nearly $10 million Air Force contract for the ninth production year of ATS–an award that brought the total amount funded for ATS thus far to $435 million.
The Air Force uses ATS “as a significant part of an operations and sustainment training program, which provides total training to KC-46 aircrew members on proper operations of the KC-46 aircraft,” AFMC said on Jan. 22. “The goal of the KC-46 ATS program is to provide pilots and boom operators with thorough knowledge and hands-on training, concurrent with the aircraft’s functionality.”
ATS is a mix of classroom instruction, computer-based training, and hands-on training with ATDs, including a weapon systems trainer, BOT, fuselage trainer, pilot part task trainer, and a boom operator part task trainer.
“These ATDs support instructor‐monitored practice training leading to proficiency and certification,” AFMC said. “This acquisition entails services to develop and deliver courseware and training to the government to support aircrew NVG certification training on devices provided under the existing ATS contract.”
In January, AFMC said it was surveying industry to find companies able to develop Night Vision Goggle (NVG) training and support the latter for ATS at Altus AFB, Okla., from Jan. 1 next year through 2026.
Air Mobility Command (AMC) has said that KC-46A night refueling–important for special operations missions–is limited for the tanker, although it is able to perform night refueling with both planes alight (Defense Daily, Oct. 31, 2022). The tanker is unable to do night vision goggle refueling “with complete blackout,” AMC said, given that the KC-46 Long-Wave Infrared (LWIR) cameras on the boom lack the fidelity needed, but the command said that new boom sensor cameras for RVS 2.0 will meet the need.
The Air Force has said that it foresees fielding RVS 2.0 for the KC-46A in October 2025 at the start of fiscal 2026–a delay of 19 months.
Last November, Boeing said that it had won a $2.3 billion Lot 10 award from the Air Force for 15 KC-46As–a number that brings the total on contract to 153 out of 179 planned (Defense Daily, Nov. 29, 2023).