The KC-Z will finally exchange the US Air Force’s KC-135 Stratotanker fleet. (U.S. Air National Guard/Tech. Sgt. Amber Monio)
DAYTON, Ohio — The US Air Force would possibly start growth of its futuristic, next-generation tanker sooner than deliberate, in accordance to a program official.
Development of the leap-ahead KC-Z tanker was initially slated to happen in the 2030s, however as a competition for a KC-Y tanker seems more and more unlikely, the service is now planning on transferring up KC-Z growth, Paul Waugh, the Air Force’s program govt officer for mobility and coaching plane, advised reporters final week.
Instead of ready till the following decade to start work on KC-Z, the Air Force now plans to start “pre-analysis of alternatives work” subsequent yr, with a proper evaluation of alternate options (AOA) to kick off in 2024, Waugh stated.
The AOA will assist the Air Force construct out plans for a KC-Z household of methods, which may embody a KC-Z tanker plane in addition to “other technologies, whether it’s survivability, or connectivity, or maybe efficiencies that we want to pull into that family of systems,” he stated.
Meanwhile, this system workplace expects to obtain finalized necessities this fall for the KC-Y or “bridge tanker” that the service plans to purchase instantly after its preliminary 179 tanker purchase of the Boeing KC-46 is full. Over the previous yr, this system workplace has sought enter from Boeing and Airbus for a enterprise case evaluation that can “help inform an acquisition decision after we have a set of requirements,” Waugh stated.
If that timeline stays on monitor, the Air Force may come to a call on its KC-Y acquisition technique subsequent spring, he stated. That technique is ready to reply a looming query hanging over the aerospace business: Will the Air Force search out a competition between the KC-46 and the LMXT — an American model of Airbus’s A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport produced with Lockheed Martin — or will it merely proceed shopping for the KC-46?
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has repeatedly stated that, whereas a closing determination has not been made, the outlook for a KC-Y competition was dwindling, as early work on the necessities hadn’t confirmed a necessity for a second tanker variant.
“I love competition. I’m all for it. It’s the best tool have to reduce costs. But we actually have to have a demand for the other aircraft that’s being offered,” Kendall advised lawmakers in April.
“And I’m trying to be as transparent and honest about this as I can be. It is not as certain as it was a year ago, let’s say, that we’re going to do a competition,” he stated. “And I don’t need individuals to have a mis-impression about that.
