https://www.defensenews.com/air/2024...wo-years-late/
Revamped KC-46 vision system slipping into 2026, nearly two years late
The rollout of the
Boeing KC-46A Pegasus tanker’s new remote vision system will likely slip into 2026, placing it nearly two years behind schedule, according to the Air Force’s top acquisition official.
Andrew Hunter, assistant secretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, told the House Armed Services subcommittee on seapower and projection forces that schedule pressures on the vision system, known as RVS 2.0, are placing in doubt the most recent goal of
releasing it to the fleet by October 2025. As a result, RVS 2.0 could end up being nearly two years late.
Hunter indicated the FAA’s airworthiness certification process — the completion of which will officially close out the system’s design approval — is one of the factors again delaying RVS 2.0. Boeing and its primary subcontractor, Collins Aerospace, are the main companies working on RVS 2.0.
“There is some schedule pressure there,” Hunter told lawmakers during a March 12 hearing on the service’s proposed fiscal 2025 budget. “Depending on the completion of the FAA airworthiness certification process, I cannot guarantee you that we would be in a position to field [RVS 2.0] in ‘25. It may be ‘26 – and that is actually likely, I think it will probably field in ‘26.”
Boeing declined to comment and referred Defense News’ queries to the Air Force, which has not yet responded to follow-up questions.….
Hunter also said the KC-46 is still not completely cleared to refuel A-10 Warthog attack aircraft, due to a longstanding issue with the stiffness of its refueling boom and the A-10′s thrust.….
The Office of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation said in its fiscal 2023 annual report that the new boom actuator’s flight testing could start later this year, with flight testing of RVS 2.0 expected to start in 2025.
Hunter also told lawmakers he believes the improved video clarity of RVS 2.0 will open up new opportunities to add autonomous capabilities in the KC-46′s refueling operations. And the Air Force could introduce more autonomous capabilities in the KC-46′s cockpit to reduce the pressure on pilots, he said, who can become “task-saturated” during the “dicier” moments of the refueling process.
The Air Force expects to have 102 KC-46s in its fleet by the end of this year, and 118 by the end of 2025. The service is now on contract with Boeing for 139 KC-46s, and plans to buy 179 in all.