Originally Posted by
RAFEngO74to09
House Armed Services Committee hearing today - RVS 2.0 delayed again to FY2025 - delivery in calendar year 2026 - all costs to be borne by Boeing including retrofit on all aircraft already delivered by then.
Also KC-135R will be remaining in service for another 20-30 years to maintain the mandated minimum 466 overall tanker fleet size (currently 467). So KC-135R will be getting another avionics upgrade.
This sobering news after the optimistic interview in January:
“The new version of the vision system, dubbed RVS 2.0, uses 4K ultrahigh-definition cameras to give boom operators a full-color, sharp 3D image as they guide the refueling boom into the receiver aircraft.
The Air Force, which last year approved the design for the new RVS, says the upgrade will eliminate the KC-46′s longstanding issue with lighting conditions — and that it’s time to start making this design a reality.
We have the demos, we have the videos, we’ve flown it on [Boeing] planes … and it looks magnificent,” Lt. Col. Joshua Renfro, the head of the Air Force’s KC-46 Cross-Functional Team, said in a January interview with Defense News.”
I can smell the BS! It looks great, but it doesn’t meet the requirements.