SEATTLE — Boeing’s new aerial-refueling tanker passed a major test Sunday when it transferred 1,600 pounds of fuel to an F-16 fighter during a flight over Washington.
The successful test was a critical step for the KC-46 Pegasus tanker, which Boeing is developing for the U.S. Air Force. It is based on the company’s commercial 767 jetliner.
Despite development delays and a significantly reduced system and flight test schedule, the tanker program appears to be proceeding without any major new issues. Boeing is scrambling to deliver the first 18 combat-ready tankers to the Air Force by August 2017, as required by contract.
During Sunday’s nearly six-hour flight, the tanker made multiple contacts with the F-16, which was flown by Lt. Col. Daniel Alix, 416st Flight Test Squadron, 412th Test Wing.
In the KC-46, Master Sgt. Lindsay Moon operated the tanker’s central boom from a high-tech 3D video array behind the cockpit. He guided the 56-foot boom down as Alix eased his fighter jet into position. Then the two connected and fuel began flowing.
The advances in the tanker’s refueling system are “night and day different from laying on your belly in a KC-135,” the 707 derivative developed in the 1950s, Moon said.
Boeing boom operator Rickey Kahler also made contact with the F-16. The boom “handled like it was an extension of my arm,” he said in a news release from Boeing.
The test “represents years of hard work beginning to pay dividends,” said Brig. Gen. Duke Richardson, who is in charge of tankers at the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center.
The test plane, known as EMD-2, has a “robust in-flight refueling demonstration schedule over the coming weeks,” the Air Force said in a news release.
In coming flights, EMD-2 will have to show it can pass fuel with ease to other military aircraft — a C-17, F/A-18, A-10 and AV-8B. It also will receive fuel in flight from the AIr Force’s biggest tanker, a KC-10 Extender. The test plane has completed 32 test flights since it first flew Sept. 25, 2015.
The fueling demonstration is a key piece before the military green-lights tanker production, which is expected to happen this spring.
Boeing started low-rate production at the Everett factory at Paine Field last summer to meet its delivery deadline.
“We have a lot of work yet to do, but this is an exciting time for the airmen who are preparing to fly, maintain and support the KC-46 Pegasus for decades to come,” said Col. Christopher Coombs, U.S. Air Force KC-46 system program manager, in the company’s release.
Dan Catchpole: 425-339-3454; dcatchpole@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @dcatchpole.
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