Page 27 - Airforce Magazine_February 2016
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A KC-46 (c) goes through aircraft ac- celeration and vibration testing while in receiver mode behind a KC-10 and in formation with a KC-135. In the next few months, two more test tankers will join the fleet of two already flying.
cember interview, Johnson said the two tanker prototypes then flying—one a “provisioned freighter” and another fully equipped with all the KC-46’s tanker and other military equipment—had accumulated 350 flight hours on about 110 sorties. The ability to “turn the jets, do the postflight stuff, get the data downloaded, analyzed, ... and then get airborne again has actually been going pretty well,” he said.
FAA CERTIFICATION
The first jet flew in December 2014. Designated a 767-2C, it was based on the 767-200ER freighter, but with “provi- sion” for the plumbing, electronics, and hard decking necessary to convert it to a KC-46 tanker. Because the KC-46 is considered a derivative, the 767-2C must be certified by the Federal Aviation Ad- ministration for airworthiness, and the test program has been designed so that FAA certifications and Air Force flight testing can be done in parallel to save time and reduce the number of flights necessary. New to this airplane from the stock 767 is a different wing design and
a glass cockpit adapted from the 787 Dreamliner, among other differences.
Two 767-2Cs and two all-up KC-46s will comprise the test fleet. The two 2Cs will be converted into KC-46s later, and ultimately, all four airplanes will join the operational force. The KC-46 program calls for 179 tankers to be delivered by about 2027.
Johnson said the test fleet was de- signed so there would always be a spare of each type during flight testing.
Engineering, manufacturing, and development (EMD) aircraft No. 2, configured as a KC-46 with functional refueling gear and other equipment, made its first flight Sept. 25 last year. During the four-hour hop, the flight controls, engines, environmental control systems, and other apparatus were tested up to an altitude of 35,000 feet. The aircraft carries two wing aerial refueling pods. WARPs will allow the jet to refuel aircraft (typically Navy and foreign types) that use the probe-and-drogue refueling system. The WARPs deploy a hose and basket that the receiver aircraft connects to with a probe. The WARPs
were tested Oct. 8, as was a hose system on the centerline. This feature will allow the KC-46 to refuel up to three aircraft simultaneously. The centerline refueling boom was deployed on Oct. 9.
Richardson and Col. Christopher Coombs, the Air Force’s KC-46 program manager, said test flights so far are going well and no major deficiencies have shown up, although “we’re a few weeks off our plan in terms of the fly rate for EMD 1 and 2,” Richardson said. He chalked that up to “standard stuff” such as a fuel leak and weather delays— things not having to do with the design of the jet. Testing of the cargo-loading characteristics of the KC-46 was done last October and revealed no problems, Johnson asserted.
The start of “dry hookups” with a series of receiver aircraft was set to begin early this year. The initial schedule called for, in order, connections with an F-16, C-17, F/A-18, A-10, AV-8B, and another KC-46. The F-16 is representative of a USAF “fast mover,” Johnson said. The C-17 is representative of a “heavy,” while the F/A-18 is a “fast mover” using the
The KC-46 program enters a critical developmental phase on schedule—but just barely.
AIR FORCE Magazine / February 2016
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