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KC-46 Tanker Cleared for Production

"The KC-46 is ready to take the next step," Gen. Dave Goldfein, Air Force Chief of Staff, said in a service release. "Our Air Force and Boeing team stepped up to meet the recent challenges.  I'm especially proud of the employees on the floor of the Boeing plant, and employees of all our industry partners,…

"The KC-46 is ready to take the next step," Gen. Dave Goldfein, Air Force Chief of Staff, said in a service release. "Our Air Force and Boeing team stepped up to meet the recent challenges.  I'm especially proud of the employees on the floor of the Boeing plant, and employees of all our industry partners, who work every day to deliver game-changing capability to the warfighter.  My hat's off to them and our program leads."

As part of the Milestone C requirements, the KC-46 had to prove it could refuel an F-16, C-17, and A-10 off of its boom, as well as use the hose and drogue systems on an AV-8 and F/A-18. The KC-46 also had to take in fuel from a KC-10.

via www.airforcetimes.com

Finally. The entire program has shown just how cumbersome the DoD acquisition system is, and how it hampers what should have been a relatively simple program.

Boeing developed and built the entire KC-135 fleet in just about a decade. The competition to decide which tanker to buy took longer than that.

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Responses to “KC-46 Tanker Cleared for Production”

  1. Joe Bar

    And thus, the military industrial complex thrives. Congress makes it so. I worked DLA for 15 years (OK, I was IT), but my wife is a buyer. The FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulation) is insanely complex, and there is no point except to make the empire stronger. I have no idea how to end the madness.

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  2. McThag

    I’d say you could fix it by throwing hand grenades, but by the time a grenade was selected for the task…

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  3. Heh

    Hey it only took twice as long and twice as much money as Boeing said it would, so no big deal eh?
    Of course that had noooooothing to do with Boeing underbidding in the first place to win the contract.

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