KC-46A 2017

[spazsinbad]

Some aircraft were problematic - not everything EVER is sweetness & light - MURPHY has a say in MRTT laws that prevail:

Has Airbus fixed midair refueling problems with the F-15 jet? 22 Oct 2019 Mike Yeo
https://www.defensenews.com/air/2019/10 ... -f-15-jet/

[spazsinbad]

WON'T THESE 'LASERS' BLIND the Receiver PILOT!? ForFend I say. Me Hearties. Arrghh (pirate speak). https://www.google.com/search?rls=com.m ... 5956202163

Boeing looks at laser-range finder for KC-46A refuelling boom [Aren't BOING! clever little monkeys - NOT!]
09 Dec 2019 Garrett Reim

"Boeing is researching adding a laser-range finder to the KC-46A Pegasus’ problem-plagued refuelling boom camera system.

The laser-range-finder retrofit onto the boom cameras, known as the remote vision system (RVS), would give operators additional information about the true distance between the end of the KC-46A’s boom and a receiving aircraft’s receptacle during in-flight refuelling, says Will Roper, assistant secretary of the US Air Force (USAF) for acquisition, technology and logistics at the Reagan National Defense Forum on 7 December.

“I am very pleased that Boeing has leaped forward on that kind of research,” says Roper. “They are looking at where they can install the laser-range finder, how they can run the wiring and cabling through it.” The addition of a laser-range finder is some ways off, however.

“We’ve got another turn before that design is tightened up to where we can proceed with it,” says Roper. “It is that kind of thinking that is going to get the RVS problem solved – thinking outside the original design, which did not include that laser-range finder.”... [suits you sir - know what I mean - nudge nudge wink wink]

...The company is also working with scientists at the Air Force Research Laboratory’s 711th Human Performance Wing to model potential fixes to the RVS, says Roper. [about time m'lud]

“The remote visual system — I am going to worry about it each day until we have a validated design,” he says. “One thing I am very happy about, we’ve got some of the best visual experts at the Air Force Research Lab and they are creating a model, a simulator of the RVS, [that] we can work through design iterations with Boeing, ahead of them putting engineering investment time on them.”"

Source: https://www.flightglobal.com/news/artic ... el-462768/

[spazsinbad]

Major Problem with New Air Force Tanker Has Been Fixed, Service Says
20 Dec 2019 Oriana Pawlyk

"The Air Force's newest tanker has been cleared to carry extra passengers and equipment following a three-month ban over faulty cargo locks within the aircraft. The Air Force declared a critical deficiency impacting the KC-46 Pegasus closed Dec. 18, following "successful installation and testing of an improved cargo lock design," the service said in a statement Friday.

"The first KC-46A to receive the new hardware is assigned to McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas, and has resumed missions carrying cargo and passengers," the statement said. "The Air Force remains committed to holding Boeing accountable to fix deficiencies identified in both developmental and operational test and evaluation of the KC-46A's effectiveness, suitability, and mission capability."...

...Earlier this month, Roper told reporters the Air Force is weighing whether to implement a "laser-range finder" for refueling boom operators to better gauge the distance between the KC-46 and another aircraft during an in-flight refueling. Boeing spearheaded the research. Ther laser-range finder wasn't included in the initial camera system design, Roper said, adding the efforts need additional work before potential development.

"We've got another turn before that design is tightened up to where we can proceed with it," Roper said at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum. "It is that kind of thinking that is going to get the RVS problem solved -- thinking outside the original design, which did not include that laser-range finder," he said, according to a report from Flightglobal.

Roper said Air Force engineers with the 711th Human Performance Wing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, continue to test technology solutions and imagery overlays that could help Boeing fix the visual interface."

Source: https://www.military.com/daily-news/201 ... -says.html

KC-46 Program Downgrades Cargo Lock Issue, Begins Retrofits
20 Dec 2019 Brian W. Everstine

"...Boeing and the Air Force tested and approved a redesigned lock that the company said has been installed onto four aircraft so far. The Air Force said the first tanker that was fixed at McConnell AFB, Kan., is again flying with a typical load, the service said in a statement. Because the new design was approved and flights resumed, the service officially closed out the “category one” deficiency.

Air Mobility Command said in November that it expects to retrofit two KC-46s per week with the approved replacement locks. That process would likely wrap up by March...."

Source: https://www.airforcemag.com/kc-46-progr ... retrofits/

[marsavian]

https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/arti ... ppy-either

The Air Force’s top military officer has sent Boeing Co.’s new CEO a blunt reminder that the ill-fated 737 Max passenger jet isn’t the only troubled project he has to rescue.

There’s also the company’s failure to provide a combat-ready refueling tanker, nine years after Boeing won a competition for the $44 billion project.

“We require your attention and improved focus on the KC-46” tanker, General David Goldfein, the Air Force chief of staff, warned in a letter four days before Dave Calhoun took over as chief executive officer of the company. “The Air Force continues to accept deliveries of a tanker incapable of performing its primary operational mission.”

In the letter, Goldfein expressed concern about the tanker’s crucial “Remote Vision System” and “additional unmet requirements.” The plane has multiple cameras used by an airman sitting at a console behind the cockpit to guide a 59-foot-long extended boom to connect with a plane needing fuel and then to monitor the procedure.

Shadows or the glare of the sun can hamper the cameras’ view on occasion, possibly resulting in scraping the plane being refueled or difficulty in performing the operation, according to the Air Force. Boeing officials have said they’ve deployed a software solution expected to overcome the main hurdle.

Despite agreement on a plan to repair the Remote Vision System, Goldfein said in the letter, “to date, progress has been unsatisfactory. More than a year has elapsed and Boeing has yet to provide” a design “that instills confidence in the way forward.”

“None of the timelines” in the agreement “has been met,” he said, “and Boeing’s latest proposal slips delivery of the final fix to the warfighter by over two years,” which he called unacceptable.

The Air Force has taken delivery of 30 tankers to start aircrew and logistics training even as Boeing continues to work on fixes. The service last year started to withhold a percentage of final payment per aircraft that’s now at about $800 million, according to Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek.

“If we elect to continue accepting aircraft deliveries at the current rate” the service will possess 70 “partially mission-capable” tankers by next year, Goldfein wrote.

The tanker also has started combat testing conducted by Pentagon evaluators and so far “over 500 deficiencies have been tracked to date and we’ve only just begun” that evaluation, Goldfein wrote. A Boeing official said none of the deficiencies are of the most serious category.
Goldfein told Calhoun he expects lawmakers to question during fiscal 2021 budget hearings why the Air Force continues to take delivery of an aircraft “not meeting multiple key performance parameters and a host of other requirements.”

Without a change in course, Goldfein wrote, “we will not be able to answer positively and we will have to acknowledge our serious concerns in two areas -- trust and safety.”

[spazsinbad]

30 Jan 2020 Just Another brick in the wall: https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/ ... -kc-46-fix

[spazsinbad]

Wait WHAT!? The tunnel has light at the end of it? <sigh>

Top US Air Force general hopes for major KC-46 fix by March [202???]
https://www.defensenews.com/digital-sho ... -by-march/

[spazsinbad]

Boeing, USAF Agree On Dramatic KC-46 Remote Vision System Redesign
03 Apr 2020 Lee Hudson

"The U.S. Air Force and Boeing have finalized a deal on a dramatically redesigned version of the KC-46A Pegasus tanker’s problem-plagued Remote Vision System (RVS)....

...RVS 2.0
Every facet of the RVS will be altered. The new system will be outfitted with modern, 4K, high-definition cameras, with a fiber-optic cable running imagery from the cameras to larger, 4K color displays for the operators, Roper said. “Right now, the cameras are slanted, which creates that warping... We’ll remove that, which will make the image that the operator sees the same as the reality outside of the tanker, so no more warping or rubber sheeting,” he said.

Additionally, the new system will incorporate a “laser ranger LIDAR” where the camera box resides that will paint the aircraft that approaches the tanker and the boom, he said. “We think that will help significantly with them understanding their distance to go because LIDARs are extremely accurate,” Roper said. “They’ll be seeing both the boom and the aircraft in the same reference frame, which means there will be no bias term that would translate into an additional error.”

Another new aspect of the system will enable the KC-46 to tank autonomously or semi-autonomously. This capability has been on the service’s roadmap for years and the government agrees it is the future of tanking and mobility, Roper said....

...RVS 1.5
The new deal does not close the door to RVS 1.5, which is what the service and Boeing analyzed at the end of last year. This iteration of RVS implements numerous software changes and a few hardware updates. “We have told Boeing that we will analyze that design when it’s complete,” Roper said. “If there’s operational benefit to deploying it across our fleet, then we’ll be open to doing so, but the data has to lead us to that decision.”

The program anticipates kicking off flight testing of RVS 1.5 this summer, and having it ready for fielding on fleet and production aircraft in the second half of 2021, Jamie Burgess, KC-46 program manager and vice president at Boeing, told reporters April 2.

For the RVS 2.0 technology refresh and associated upgrades, testing will begin in 2020 and be ready for fielding in the second half of 2023, he said. “It’s a two-phased approach and we are very, very proud of the capability this will bring to the aerial refueling warfighter,” Burgess said...." [NOT Forgetting RVS 1.0 was just BORKED! by BOING!]

Source: https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/ ... m-redesign

[spazsinbad]

Boeing Statement on KC-46 Agreement with the U.S. Air Force
03 Apr 2020 BOING! PR

"ARLINGTON, Va., April 2, 2020—Boeing Defense, Space & Security President and CEO Leanne Caret issued the following statement regarding Boeing’s KC-46 agreement with the U.S. Air Force:

The Air Force and Boeing will make the KC-46 synonymous with aerial refueling excellence. The agreement we announced today takes advantage of new remote vision systems technologies that are orders of magnitude better than what was available when the program started. Generations of women and men in uniform will benefit from the advancements we are making in the science of visualization systems. Not only will these advancements benefit the KC-46 by preparing it for future capabilities like autonomous refueling, they will also benefit other programs for years to come. The investments we continue to make in the KC-46 clearly demonstrate Boeing’s commitment to Pegasus being the standard by which all future refueling aircraft are measured."

Source: https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2020-04-02 ... -Air-Force

I'm So Glad https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hSiqy9v9FM