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A KC-46 takes off on a delivery flight from Boeing Field in Seattle in December 2023.
The U.S. Air Force has not taken delivery of KC-46 tankers from Boeing in more than two months as a new issue on the aircraft’s boom was discovered during inspections.
Boeing to date has delivered 82 KC-46s to the Air Force, and four more to the Japan Air Self Defense Force. The service says in a statement that deliveries were briefly paused starting in March after a fleet inspection revealed a broken boom gimbal nut lockwire—the gimbal is a swivel joint providing boom movement in all three axes, with the nut securing the boom to the gimbal. The next delivery is expected by the end of the month, the service says.
“Deliveries were paused while production and fielded aircraft completed inspections to ensure continued safety of the fleet and receivers,” an Air Force spokesperson says. “The [Air Force] completed all aircraft inspections and resumed the aircraft acceptance process; two aircraft are undergoing final inspection stages and are expected to deliver by 31 May 24.”
Boeing, in a statement, says it is “working closely with the customer to mitigate any impact to the fleet and are committed to delivering the KC-46A with a focus on safety and quality.”
The latest pause follows two others in 2023, one related to a quality issue from supplier Daher and another that the Air Force attributed to red tape issues. Boeing ended 2023 delivering a total of 12 tankers to the Air Force, two less than the service’s expected 14, for a total of 80. Two have been delivered so far in 2024.
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