WICHITA, Kan. — The first of the new Boeing KC-46A refueling tankers will arrive at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita later than expected but the total order is still expected to be delivered by 2020, base officials said.
The new tankers, which will replace the aging KC-135 tanker, will not arrive until the spring of 2017 after originally being scheduled to arrive early this year. The delay is being attributed to production delays by Boeing, The Wichita Eagle reported (http://bit.ly/1Ree2rP ). The KC-46 tankers are the military version of Boeing's 767 airplane.
Rep. Mike Pompeo of Kansas, a strong supporter of the KC-46 tankers, said he has been "reassured by the Air Force that the contractor remains on schedule" to provide the first 18 KC-46s by its August 2017 deadline.
"As anyone associated with the aircraft industry knows, development and procurement timetables do have a tendency to slip," Pompeo said in an emailed statement.
The KC-46 production has been delayed several times, which prompted Air Force Secretary Deborah James to tell Congress last week there was "very little to no margin left in that time frame."
"Sometimes people forget that KC-46 is a developmental program," said Boeing spokesman Charles Ramey. "It's normal for issues to be discovered and fixed."
The KC-46 has completed 40 flights and successfully refueled fighter jets, Ramey said. The company expects formal approval from Congress to begin production in late spring.
Ramey said Boeing is building the first planes with its own funds while it awaits Congress' decision. The planes are assembled in Everett, Washington.
Delays also have occurred for hangars to hold the tankers. But the final hangar will be completed in March 2017, as part of $267 million in construction projects through fiscal year 2017, according to the Air Force.
Ben Davis, a project manager with the Army Corps of Engineers' Kansas City District, said the hangars had to be redesigned after a fatality at Eglin Air Force Base in 2014 when the fire-suppression foam system was inadvertently activated.
"The biggest struggle has been the fire suppression, because (McConnell) just happened to be the first one to deal with these lessons learned," Davis said. "We've taken a lot of effort and time to make sure we're doing it correctly."
The total cost of the hangars is still "well within what Congress appropriated for the project," Davis said.
An additional $19.8 million is requested in the Department of Defense's Fiscal Year 2017 budget to fund a new $11.2 million air traffic control tower on base, as well as various KC-46 projects.
The 931st Air Refueling Group is planning to add 400 new reservists when the KC-46 arrives. The unit, which will be designated a wing in April, will be the first Reserve associate unit to fly and maintain the KC-46 tankers.
Information from: The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, http://www.kansas.com.
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