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| (Airman 1st Class Alexi Bosarge/U.S. Air Force) |
Under its contract with the service, KC-46 manufacturer Boeing is liable for paying for a fix to the matter , Air Force spokeswoman Capt. Cara Bousie said during a statement.
“The Air Force and Boeing are working together to work out the basis cause and implement corrective actions,” she said. “The KC-46 program office continues to watch the whole KC-46 fleet and is enhancing acceptance testing of the equipment to spot potential leaks at the factory where they will be repaired before delivery.”
The problem was first discovered in July 2019, but the Air Force didn't say why the difficulty had been escalated to Category 1 status — the designation given to problems with a big impact on operations or safety. The service also didn't immediately discuss questions on what kind of receiver aircraft were most involved the deficiency or the severity of the matter .
A Boeing spokesman said that the Air Force had discovered 16 aircraft in need of repair, which seven have already been fixed.
“The KC-46 equipment is provided with redundant protection for fuel containment. In some cases with this issue, aircraft maintenance crews are finding fuel between the first and secondary fuel protection barriers within the system,” the corporate said during a statement.
Boeing is functioning with “utmost urgency” to deal with the matter and implement a fix to the remaining aircraft, the statement said. A Boeing spokesman added it might take about 10 days to retrofit each aircraft at the rapid response depot facility in San Antonio , Texas. The fix was also being incorporated into assembly line in Everett, Wash., which is currently undergoing a short lived suspension thanks to COVID-19.
The latest Category 1 deficiency brings the entire up to four:
The tanker’s remote vision system or RVS — the camera system that permits KC-46 boom operators to steer the boom into a receiver aircraft without having to seem out a window and use visual cues — provides imagery in certain lighting conditions that appears warped or misleading. Boeing has agreed to buy potentially extensive hardware and software fixes, but the Air Force believes it'll system won’t be fully functional until 2023-2024.
The Air Force has recorded instances of the boom scraping against the airframe of receiver aircraft. Boeing and therefore the Air Force believe this problem may be a symptom of the RVS’s acuity problems and can be eliminated once the camera system is fixed.
Boeing must redesign the boom to accommodate the A-10, which currently doesn't generate the thrust necessary to push into the boom for refueling. This problem may be a requirements change by the Air Force, which approved Boeing’s design in 2016. Last year, Boeing received a $55.5 million contract to start work on the new boom actuator.
Boeing’s fixed-priced firm contract for the event of the KC-46 features a $4.9 billion ceiling that leaves the corporate liable for any expenses billed in more than that quantity . So far, the corporate has paid quite $3.5 billion of its own money to fund corrections to ongoing technical issues.
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