(Bloomberg) -- The US Air Force has concluded it will take an additional 19 months for Boeing Co. to start installing an improved version of the flawed camera-based refueling system on its KC-46 refueling planes, according to the service.
“After thoroughly evaluating all the data and assumptions that went in to the current schedule” the Air Force and Boeing determined that achieving an “Operational Military Flight Release” for the upgrade will slip from March 2024 to October 2025, Major Josh Benedetti, an Air Force spokesman, said in a statement.
Boeing has agreed to improve its Remote Vision System, 3D cameras that feed a console where an airman guides a refueling boom during a midair minuet to connect with another plane. The Air Force discovered in 2017 that shadows or the sun’s glare sometimes can hamper the system’s view, resulting in occasional scraping of planes being refueled or difficulty in performing the operation.
Boeing will continue to be responsible for the costs of fixing the camera system unless the Air Force orders changes to the design, Benedetti said. When Bloomberg News reported the prospect of further delays last month, the Air Force predicted the camera fix would take less than a year.
Andrew Hunter, the Air Force’s assistant secretary for acquisition, said in the statement that “our defense industrial base continues to face supply chain issues and we’re seeing effects in the acquisition schedules of technically complex systems,” such as the KC-46 camera system.
Boeing echoed that theme in a statement, saying that “the current revised delivery timeline addresses hardware availability due to global supply chain shortages and longer lead times for the complex computing equipment and technological components required for the cutting-edge enhancements” that the camera system will deliver.
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
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