Impressive capability. By comparison, KC-46 can only "uplift" 106 tons of fuel. The thing is, USAF does not care a wit how much gas a tanker can "uplift". It cares how much gas a tanker can offload over a range of distances and/or a range of on-station times. KC-46 meets or exceeds all of USAF's fuel offload requirements.
AW&ST - Jan 24th:
....."Expectations shrank dramatically in 2011 following the loss of what was then an EADS-led bid to win the re-competed KC-X deal with the A330-based multirole tanker transport (MRTT). Yet today’s more sober growth plan once again is associated with the tanker as, together with
Lockheed Martin, Airbus is looking to fill a capability gap the Air Force identified last year. Created partially by delays associated with Boeing’s troubled
KC-46A tanker program as well as the service’s ambition to expand its refueling capability beyond that of the incoming
Boeing 767-derivative, the U.S. Transportation Command (Transcom) requirements call for a platform capable of carrying a minimum of 50,000 lb. of fuel for 1,500 mi. It must perform the mission day or night and deliver fuel by boom, hose-and-drogue or both.
In response, the two companies are studying a variant of the MRTT, possibly to be supplied as part of a commercial “fee-for-service” deal. This time, the MRTT should be well-suited, says Enders. Clearly still rankled by the outcome of the KC-X, he says, “I still don’t understand why the most powerful Air Force of the world would not fly the best available tanker aircraft on the market.”......