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Old 19th May 2017, 20:04
  #568 (permalink)  
KenV
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
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Originally Posted by eckhard
Why does a military aircraft need FAA certification before delivery to an Air Force?
Because it is a commercial derivative aircraft. There are actually three kinds of certifications involved. The aircraft will be produced on the existing Boeing production certificate. The basic airframe has an existing commercial FAA type certificate and will receive a new amended type certificate (ATC). The military bits will receive supplemental type certificates (STC). These are all pre-delivery processes/certifications. Post-delivery (i.e. after the airplane leaves the production environment and enters the operational environment) the aircraft will be supported and maintained using commercial maintenance certification. USAF deemed that to be a quicker, easier, and cheaper way to certify the aircraft as well as its production and support/maintenance processes

To put this into perspective, the 6 KC-46s that are now flying in the test program have not been delivered and are still in the production environment. Production processes (including all the record keeping) must be used to support and maintain them. That includes de-modding them from test aircraft configuration to operational aircraft configuration. The maintenance manuals/Tech Orders, SRM (Structural Repair Manual), etc may NOT be used in the production environment. Only after the test aircraft are demodded and the customer accepts those aircraft will they enter the post-production environment and use all the processes/certifications that apply there. It's complicated.
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