IDEX: Boeing KC-46 – a better option than A330 MRTT?

Although the UAEAF&AD is operating the A330MRTT with more on order, the strongest prospect would appear to be Saudi Arabia. 

“We think they [Saudi] could use the capabilities of KC-46; we view it as a combat aircraft so, from a protection standpoint, it has more capability than the MRTT,” said Rick Lemaster, the company’s regional sales and marketing leader Middle East.

“The KC-46 has been designed to rapidly re-role from one mission to another – to carry a mix of passengers and cargo, as well as medevac.” 

While the Airbus A330 MRTT can do all this, Lemaster said that it doesn’t do it as quickly as the KC-46. “They have the passengers on a higher level and the cargo below, whereas we can fill with passengers, cargo, or mix of two on the same floor, through a cargo door allowing the aircraft to be uploaded and unloaded much more quickly.”

Boeing doesn’t build C-17s any more, but believes the KC-46 is a good alternative option because it has as many pallet positions as a C-17. 

“You can’t carry as much weight, but usually our customers are not filling up all the cargo space anyway. We view the KC-46 as a multi-role strategic airlift aircraft that also refuels with a boom, and hose drogues,” said Lemaster.

On the remote vision system issues currently affecting the KC-46, he said they are well on the way to being resolved, and the USAF will get a better system than it envisaged. “Those changes into the system need to be approved; we can’t say when those fixes will go into the aircraft,” he added.

The USAF currently has 179 KC-46s on order, with nearly 70 delivered so far. 

Does Boeing have aspirations to develop the automatic air-to-air refuelling system similar to the one that Airbus is currently working on? 

“We are investigating how we could do that,” said Lemaster. “We have the MQ-25 Stingray UAV, our refuelling capability for the US Navy, which is autonomous, and we’d like to get the MQ-25 to refuel from the KC-46, then refuel other [US Navy] aircraft, so we have ongoing discussions for an automatic AAR.”