Boeing is focused on completing certification flight testing and delivering the first KC-46 Pegasus tanker to the U.S. Air Force by late this year. The manufacturer is also committed to accelerating delivery of the first 18 tankers by next year.

The engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) contract the Air Force awarded Boeing in 2011 called for the manufacturer to deliver 18 tankers, nine sets of wing aerial refueling pods (WARPs) and two spare engines by August this year. The parties have since modified the schedule to allow Boeing to deliver the first 18 aircraft and WARPs separately by October 2018, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) stated in a March report to Congress.

While the program is meeting cost and performance targets, its schedule presents a risk due to potential delays in securing design certifications from the Federal Aviation Administration and completing flight-test points. Boeing must complete more than 1,700 test points per month on average from February through September, a level more than double what it completed in the last 11 months, the GAO said.

Briefing reporters on the program’s status on May 16 at Boeing Field, south of Seattle, KC-46 program manager Mike Gibbons was confident the manufacturer will meet the current schedule. The program is 90 percent complete with the requirements of obtaining an amended type certificate from the FAA for a 767-2C baseline freighter with tanker-system provisions, and 60 percent complete toward obtaining a supplemental type certificate for the full KC-46 tanker. The Air Force will then certify airworthiness of the military platform.

“The plan this year is just to complete that certification of the aircraft with the FAA,” then acquire Air Force certification, Gibbons said. “The FAA is very committed this. I work collaboratively with them every day,” he added. “We, the Air Force and the FAA meet and discuss this program on a monthly basis. They are very committed to making this a successful venture.”

Similarly, Gibbons said Boeing should complete all required flight-test points. “The difference is what we have in the last phase of this testing is certification flying versus…flight testing for development and learning,” he said. “In the first part of flight-testing, anything we learn often times will require software tweaks and hardware modifications, which slows the pace of testing. We don’t expect to have any changes that would require modifications, so the increase in test-point completion will pick up quite significantly. We’ve got the test points all laid out specifically and we expect to complete that testing this year.”

Boeing is currently testing six aircraft, including four EMD and two low-rate initial production (LRIP) tankers. One of the LRIP aircraft was undergoing electromagnetic effects testing at Edwards Air Force Base, California. The testing was delayed because WARP supplier Cobham lagged in providing detailed design drawings the FAA requires to approve the system, according to the GAO.

In January, the Air Force awarded Boeing a third LRIP contract, bringing to 34 the number of production tankers the service has ordered. There are 20 aircraft now in production. Due to a technical problem with the refueling boom design and certification issues that have delayed the developmental flight-test program, delivery of the first 18 tankers has been compressed from 14 months to six months under the current schedule.

The plan is to meet that schedule, Gibbons said. “The development is behind the original plan, but what we’ve not slowed down on is production overall,” he argued. “Our production is still going at the same rate as the original plan. Once development is complete, we will start delivering [tankers] and in very short order the U.S. Air Force will be back to the original plan.”