As part of the KC-46A tanker program, the Air Force will pay for the development, fabrication, and test of an interim aircraft that Boeing hopes to market as a commercial product, according to service and company officials. In the tanker’s test program, Boeing will deliver two aircraft as 767-2Cs—a new freighter variant that will lack refueling gear—and another two airplanes configured as all-up KC-46 tankers. The Air Force doesn’t see the situation as evidence that the US military is subsidizing the commercial aircraft industry. That’s a charge Europe has frequently lodged with the World Trade Organization. Maureen Dougherty, Boeing’s KC-46 program manager, said in a June 13 interview the 767-2C—which bridges from the 767-200ER to a configuration that the Air Force can use as the basis of the KC-46—is going to be a commercially available aircraft. However, the 767-2C will be “provisioned” for the tanker conversion, and may not be attractive to commercial customers without changes, said Air Force KC-46 program manager Maj. Gen. Christopher Bogdan. If Boeing wishes to market the aircraft, “that’s OK with us,” he told the Daily Report. But one should not construe the arrangement as a subsidy of a commercial project, he said. Click here to continue reading the full report.
The Air Force's new Aircraft Readiness Unit will maintain and provide Collaborative Combat Aircraft for operations, but won’t serve as a “schoolhouse” teaching fighter pilots how to manage these escort drones.