Boeing [BA] recently awarded BAE Systems a contract to provide a high-integrity Actuator Control Unit (ACU) to help control the refueling boom in the Air Force’s KC-46 aerial refueling tanker, according to a BAE Systems company statement.
The ACU provides the control interfaces necessary for the movement of the aerial refueling boom, according to a BAE Systems statement. The boom is the arm that comes out of the back of the tanker that engages with the aircraft that needs to be refueled. Boom commands processed by the ACU to control the boom actuators are initiated by an aerial refueling operator using a boom flight control stick, according to a statement.
“It’s really a control electronics unit that controls the positioning of the actuator to drive the boom,” BAE Systems Vice President and General Manager for Communications and Control Jim Garceau told Defense Daily in a phone interview yesterday.
Garceau said BAE is going through qualification of the ACU right now and that the first delivery of the development units will take place this year. He also said production of the ACU starts in 2014, which is the same time the first flight of the KC-46 is expected, according to a statement.
Garceau also said the ACU is a custom unit for Boeing and that BAE Systems has not sold any of these ACUs to other businesses.
Engineering and development of the ACUs will be conducted in Endicott, N.Y., with manufacturing in Ft. Wayne, Ind., according to a statement.
The ACU is not the only item BAE Systems will have in the tanker. Boeing also selected BAE Systems in 2011 to provide its Interior Control Panel for the tanker. The Interior Control Panel uses touch-screen technology and a “user-friendly” interface to allow an aircrew to efficiently control a variety of interior functions, such as lighting, potable water and waste tanks, according to a statement.
Garceau declined to give the value of the company’s contract for the ACUs.