U.S. Air Force's next generation KC-46A Pegasus aerial refueling tanker program notched another success last week, with the successf...
U.S. Air Force's next generation KC-46A Pegasus aerial refueling tanker program notched another success last week, with the successful in flight deployment of both drogue and boom fuel transfer systems.
On Oct. 8, EMD-2 successfully extended the drogue refueling baskets from both the Centerline Drogue System (CDS), located on the belly of the fuselage, and from the wing aerial refueling pods (WARP), located on the wing tips, for probe receiver aircraft.
On Oct. 9, EMD-2 extended the boom, the telescoping tube which an operator on the tanker aircraft extends to receptacle-equipped receiver aircraft.
The EMD-2 aircraft is the first fully tanker configured aircraft of the program, which completed maiden flight last month.
The rigid, centerline boom used on the KC-135 Stratotanker and KC-10 Extender, has been the Air Force standard for in-flight refueling since the 1950s. With a 1,200 gallons per minute transfer rate from the KC-46, the boom will be the fastest way to refuel. Like all previous tankers, the Pegasus can refuel a single aircraft at a time on the boom.
On the other hand, Air Force helicopters and all Navy and Marine Corps aircraft use the hose and drogue method of refueling. The two drogue systems on the KC-46, CDS and WARPs, pass fuel at a rate of 400 gpm, and the WARPs can refuel more than one aircraft at a time.
The KC-46A is a leap forward, as it can conduct boom and drogue refueling on a single mission without landing to reconfigure.
The Air Force contracted with Boeing in February 2011 to acquire 179 KC-46As to begin recapitalizing the aging tanker fleet.
The program is currently working to meet the required assets available date, a milestone requiring 18 KC-46As and all necessary support equipment to be on the ramp, ready to support warfighter needs by August 2017.
