{"id":962,"date":"2018-12-23T14:05:06","date_gmt":"2018-12-23T14:05:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/monroeaerospace.com\/blog\/?p=962"},"modified":"2018-12-27T17:10:42","modified_gmt":"2018-12-27T17:10:42","slug":"boeing-to-deliver-refueling-tankers-to-us-air-force-before-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/monroeaerospace.com\/blog\/boeing-to-deliver-refueling-tankers-to-us-air-force-before-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Boeing to Deliver Refueling Tankers to US Air Force Before 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"It’s been a long time coming, but Boeing is expected to deliver the first of its KC-36 refueling tankers to the U.S. Air Force by the end of the year, signaling the beginning of a new logistical chain for the aerospace manufacturing giant. In 2011, the Air Force agreed to purchase 179 of the tankers from Boeing, resulting in a massive $49 billion contract. Being that the KC-36 is a new tanker, though, it’s taken Boeing some time to perfect. But it appears that Boeing is finalizing the tanker project, as it’s planning to deliver the first KC-36s to the Air Force before the beginning of 2019.<\/p>\n

Codenamed “Pegasus,” the KC-46 was selected as the winner for the Air Force’s tanker competition. The Air Force held this competition some 17 years ago in an effort to find a replacement for its aging KC-135 Stratotankers. While several aerospace companies participated in the competition by providing the Air Force with mock-up designs, Boeing was ultimately selected at the winner. Boeing proposed building the KC-36 by modifying its existing 787s with the appropriate equipment and systems needed for midair refueling operations.<\/p>\n

The KC-46 is designed to be a multi-role tanker that can refuel a variety of military aircraft in midair. Reports show that it’s capable of holding up to 212,000 pounds of jet fuel, which is can distribute to other aircraft.<\/p>\n

Boeing has encountered several roadblocks when developing the KC-46, however. Specifically, the tanker’s boom hasn’t been working as intended. According to The Drive<\/a>, early flight tests of the KC-46 found that the refueling component, known as a boom, was scraping the side of the receiving jet. It wasn’t enough force to cause any significant damage — to either aircraft — though it was still a problem that Boeing has to addressed. The good news is that Boeing has apparently worked out these kinks and is now ready to deliver the first of its KC-46 refueling tankers to the Air Force.<\/p>\n

Boeing has since reiterated that the KC-46 project is a top priority. “The KC-46 is a top priority for the Boeing Company, and we have the best of Boeing working to ensure the U.S. Air Force gets their tankers as quickly as possible<\/em>,” said a Boeing spokesperson when discussing the deal.<\/p>\n

The unit price for the KC-46 is estimated to be $147.4 million. Boeing will deliver the first of its KC-46 refueling tankers to the Air Force within the coming days, with the remaining tankers being delivered in 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s been a long time coming, but Boeing is expected to deliver the first of its KC-36 refueling tankers to the U.S. Air Force by the end of the year, signaling the beginning of a new logistical chain for the … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":963,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aerospace-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/monroeaerospace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/monroeaerospace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/monroeaerospace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monroeaerospace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monroeaerospace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=962"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/monroeaerospace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":965,"href":"https:\/\/monroeaerospace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962\/revisions\/965"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monroeaerospace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/monroeaerospace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monroeaerospace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monroeaerospace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}