Lawmakers on the House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee are seeming skeptical of some the Air Force’s future tanker plans and want to put guardrails in place, as they unveiled their markup of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act on June 12. The markup ...
The Air Force needs to start investing in its “next generation of strategic mobility and refueling assets,” U.S. Transportation Command boss Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost said—and that means replacing the two pillars of those respective fleets. “The C-17 has demonstrated its merits countless times, ...
The Air Force’s nascent KC-Z program, aimed at developing a next-generation family of systems for aerial refueling, will look to launch its analysis-of-alternatives study in 2024, years earlier than originally planned. Originally, the analysis of alternatives for the KC-Z was set for “maybe in the ...
Air Force Magazine Editor in Chief Tobias Naegele and Pentagon Editor Abraham Mahshie sat down with Lt. Gen. David S. Nahom, Air Force deputy chief of staff for plans and programs, for an exclusive interview that touched on everything from the the Next-Generation Air Dominance ...
The Air Force’s tanker presence in the Arctic will grow, with four more KC-135s heading to a new Active component at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. The KC-135s and up to 220 Active duty Airmen will head to the 168th Wing at Eielson, with aircraft ...
The Air Force’s next generation tanker is starting to go operational, but in a very limited way, with the goal of freeing up older planes for combat missions. Air Mobility Command announced Feb. 24 it is phasing the KC-46 into operations, by making it available ...
The 157th Air Refueling Wing on Feb. 5 filled up its KC-46 hangars, receiving its 12th and final Pegasus as Boeing delivered the 44th tanker to the Air Force. A crew from the wing at Pease Air National Guard Base, N.H., flew the tanker home ...
Boeing on Jan. 27 reported another $275 million charge to its KC-46 program, pushing the total cost overruns it is responsible for to more than $5 billion in the past six years—more than the initial contract award for the tanker. The fourth quarter total means ...
The Air Force is moving forward with its “bridge tanker” project—the air-refueling aircraft acquisition formerly known as “KC-Y”—in a “full and open competition” to replace the KC-135 Stratotanker fleet. It is a stepping stone to a more futuristic tanker, Air Mobility Command boss Gen. Jacqueline ...
Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper on Oct. 15 said he is keeping a close eye on the modernity and readiness of the Air Force’s tanker fleet. During an on-stage discussion with Thomas Spoehr, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Center for National Defense, Esper also cited ...
The head of U.S. Transportation Command said Oct. 7 he sees new “momentum” to protect some legacy tanker aircraft from retirement. Canceling that proposed divestment would help the mobility enterprise avoid an oncoming “train wreck” of a tanker shortage while the new KC-46 is delayed, ...
The Air Force in the coming weeks will evaluate an interim fix to the KC-46’s troubled remote vision system to see if there would be any value gained, while still holding Boeing to its requirement to provide a broad, permanent fix to the system by ...