Boeing aerial-refueling tanker’s 1st flight set for Sept. 25

EVERETT — Boeing’s KC-46 aerial refueling tanker is slated to fly for the first time on Sept. 25.

Since finishing fuel tests the plane has steadily progressed through ground tests that precede a first flight, said a source familiar with the program.

Even so, the first flight comes nine months later than originally scheduled. Supply chain and design problems have required substantial rework that has left Boeing squeezed for time to deliver the first batch of 18 combat-ready tankers to the U.S. Air Force by August 2017.

The tankers are based on the 767-200 and are assembled in Everett. The ground tests are being conducted at the Boeing flight line at Paine Field.

The program is “definitely struggling with schedule. We are not struggling with performance,” Brigadier General Duke Richardson said at the annual Air Force Association conference, according to Reuters.

Richardson, who oversees the U.S. Air Force tanker programs, announced the first flight date at the conference. A Boeing spokesman declined to comment.

Several aerospace analysts have said they are skeptical that Boeing will be able to deliver the first batch of tankers in time, as required by its development contract with the Air Force.

Even though the military has not given Boeing the go-ahead to start production, the company started low-rate production of the tankers this summer.

Doing so gives the company a shot at meeting its deadline, but also exposes it to expensive rework if the tanker doesn’t perform up to the Air Force’s expectations in the air.

Based on how it does in flight and in transferring fuel to a variety of U.S. combat aircraft, the Air Force will decide on officially starting production. It has pushed that decision back to late April 2016.

At the conference Tuesday, Richardson said he is “cautiously confident” Boeing can deliver on time, according to Reuters.

Dan Catchpole: 425-339-3454; dcatchpole@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @dcatchpole.