United States Air Force KC-46A Ordered

The United States Air Force awarded Boeing a contract worth about 2.3 billion dollars for 15 additional KC-46A Pegasus tankers under the ninth production lot, adding to a programme of record of 179 aircraft. The KC-46A is replacing part of the ageing KC-135 Stratotanker force and combines boom and drogue refuelling with cargo and aeromedical capability. The order was placed while the programme remained under scrutiny over unresolved technical deficiencies, in particular the remote vision system used by boom operators, which the service had required the manufacturer to redesign before the aircraft could refuel every receiver type.