Following on the heels of yesterday’s Boeing 767 post, the US Air Force yesterday announced that Boeing has been chosen to supply the replacement for the long-serving KC-135 Stratotanker. Based on the 767-200ER, the new aircraft has been given the C-46 designation – not to be confused with the US Army Air Forces’ Curtiss C-46 Commando of Second World War fame – and the first tankers will be the KC-46A version.
Of course all of this could change if the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), having submitted a tanker version of its Airbus A330, should choose to appeal the decision.
Boeing’s KC-135 Stratotanker has been in US Air Force service since 1957 and though crews usually operate far from the publicity spotlight, their work is crucial to the USAF’s ability to conduct air operations – transport, combat or other activities – on a global scale. The first examples of the new KC-46A are to be in service no later than 2018 by which time the youngest KC-135 will be well over 50 years old.
The following links are provided for more on the announcement:
Flightglobal
Reuters
US Air Force
(above) Looks can be deceiving. This Boeing KC-135R, 59-1502 seen taxiing at Nellis AFB, Nevada in late 2010, is now around 50 years old. Aircraft and crew hail from Air Education and Training Command’s 97th Air Mobility Wing at Altus AFB, Oklahoma. More specifically, they are assigned to the 54th Air Refueling Squadron which is responsible for the training of KC-135 aircrew.
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