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Sustainment planning in progress as production starts on KC-46A

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  • By Mike W. Ray
  • Tinker Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  With the completion recently of the technical review phase on the new Air Force aerial refueling tanker, production can begin on the first four aircraft in which flight testing will be performed.

"These will be the prototypes," said Jody LeBlanc, KC-46 Product Support Integrator in the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center's Tanker Division.

The Boeing Co., which is the prime contractor, now will proceed with production of four engineering and manufacturing development aircraft in which flight tests will be performed, Mr. LeBlanc said; the airplanes will be built at Boeing's facilities in Everett, Wash. The first of those planes is slated to roll off the assembly line in December and then will be flown to a Boeing field just south of Seattle for installation of military-unique equipment, Mr. LeBlanc said.

The Air Force completed the critical design review phase on the new KC-46A tanker on Aug. 21, a month ahead of the Sept. 24 contractual deadline date. A CDR is a multi-disciplinary technical review intended to ensure that a weapon system can proceed into fabrication, demonstration and test, and can meet stated performance requirements within cost, schedule, risk, and other system constraints.

The KC-46A eventually will replace a portion of the aging fleet of KC-135 Stratotankers, which first entered service with the Air Force more than half a century ago, in 1957. The firm-fixed-price contract calls for replacing 179 of the KC-135 tankers with the new KC-46A tanker. The prime contractor has pledged to deliver 18 combat-ready tankers by August 2017, and 15 of the tankers will be manufactured each year afterward, continuing through 2029, Mr. LeBlanc said.

A comprehensive planning session focused on development of a timeline for stand-up of KC-46A depot maintenance operations at the three Air Logistics Complexes was held in the Rose State College Training Center in July 2012. Mr. LeBlanc invited a group of approximately two dozen specialists from "the various areas of expertise" to "map out" the entire stand-up process. The experts were drawn from Tinker AFB; Hill AFB at Ogden, Utah; Robins AFB, Ga.; and from Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, where the KC-46A program office is located.

Essentially the same group of specialists who huddled here in 2012 constitutes a Depot Activation Working Group that meets three times a year with Boeing representatives. They discuss progress on the aircraft delivery, plan stand-up of aircraft depot-level maintenance at Tinker AFB and for commodities in the backshops at all three depots (Tinker, Hill and Robins AFBs). Their next meeting is scheduled to be held in November at Hill AFB.

Boeing is scheduled to deliver the first production model KC-46A to the Air Force in April 2016, Mr. LeBlanc said.

Mr. LeBlanc's job is to ensure that all three of the Air Force Sustainment Command's Logistics Complexes are "prepared and ready to perform depot maintenance on the KC-46A when it is required," which is projected to start in 2018.

Tinker has been designated to support the aircraft engines and aircraft frame, Robins will be responsible for most of the avionics and other commodities, and Hill will maintain the plane's landing gear and other commodities, Mr. LeBlanc said.

Tinker will maintain the new tankers on two-year "C-check" cycles, and all three logistics complexes will stand up backshop repairs as needed, he said.

Seven KC-46As are expected to arrive at Tinker for C-1 checks in 2018, Mr. LeBlanc said. Typically it takes about four months to perform programmed depot maintenance on a KC-135, records indicate. In comparison, the first C-check on the KC-46A will be completed in about five to seven days, Mr. LeBlanc said. "We'll do operational checks, change filters, check the fluids, etc." Each biennial C-check will take more time to complete than did the previous one, as the components and parts age and the inspections delve a little deeper, he said.

The forecast calls for some backshop repairs to start at the three depots in 2018. Over the anticipated 40-year life cycle of the aircraft, it should generate about 600 new jobs at Tinker, Mr. LeBlanc estimated. When the new depot operation at Tinker is up and running, engine and some commodities work probably will be performed in Bldg. 9001, he speculated.

Ultimate plans are to erect 14 hangars at Tinker to house KC-46A tankers undergoing maintenance, because the aircraft is too large for existing facilities here. The plane is 165½ feet long, has a wingspan of 157 feet and 8 inches, and stands just over 52 feet high; the aircraft weighs 181,610 pounds when empty, and its tanks hold 212,299 pounds of fuel, Boeing reports.

The KC-46A will be built on a Boeing 767-200ER (extended range) commercial aircraft frame, with model 767-300 wings, cargo door and landing gear, and 787-model cockpit displays. "It is manufactured with a lot of composite material," Mr. LeBlanc added. "And it will have diagnostic and prognostic equipment that can track trends to tell when things may need to be serviced."