Boeing has opened the first KC-46 Tanker System Integration Laboratory at Boeing Field in Seattle, announced the company on Oct. 31. The company will use “SIL 0,” as it is known, to test commercial avionics and software for integration into the Air Force’s KC-46A tanker, according to the company’s release. Overall, Boeing intends to open five SILs—four at Boeing Field and a fifth in Everett, Wash.—by the end of 2013 to reduce risk to the KC-46A program, states the release. “Our five system integration labs will help keep us on track to deliver the first 18 KC-46A tankers by 2017,” said Maureen Dougherty, Boeing’s KC-46 vice president and program manager. “Accelerating system integration will drive out issues prior to flight testing and reduce risks to our schedule,” she added. Along with SIL 0, which opened its doors in September, the company now operates the KC-46 boom assembly center at Boeing Field.
Details Murky as ARRW Falls Short in Second Test
March 24, 2023
The second all-up flight of the AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon on March 13 fell short of a fully successful test, but the Air Force isn’t saying what went wrong with the Lockheed Martin-built hypersonic missile. The defense giant's Missiles and Fire Control division recently said the ARRW is "ready…