Tick-Tock, KC-46

Boeing has drawn up a new schedule for testing and delivering the KC-46, though it is still aiming to deliver 18 airplanes by 2017, US Transportation Command boss Gen. Paul Selva said Thursday in Washington, D.C. Selva said the original schedule was “aggressive to start with” and now that Boeing has had to cope with redesigning and re-stringing wire bundles, “it essentially uses up all the slack we had in the schedule.” If there’s “another unknown that pops up,” he said the target date will probably move, but until he knows otherwise, he’s “cautiously optimistic” Boeing will hit its marks. The first “provisioned freighter” version of the KC-46, called a 767-2C, is supposed to fly by the end of the year. “I look at my watch and say, tick-tock,” Selva commented.