EXCLUSIVE: Boeing to pay for upgrades to KC-46 tanker’s panoramic system

WASHINGTON:  The Air Force and Boeing have struck a deal on the design of the KC-46’s most notorious and troubled system, paving the way for new upgrades to tanker’s panoramic camera system that will be made on Boeing’s dime.

The Air Force and Boeing officially closed the preliminary design review for the Remote Vision System 2.0 on April 11 after Boeing agreed to pay for improvements to the panoramic suite, Air Force spokeswoman Capt. Samantha Morrison confirmed to Breaking Defense.

“The panoramic sensors will be upgraded with improved infrared cameras and the addition of new visible cameras,” she said. “While the panoramic displays will remain the same, the improved panoramic sensors and the ability to display panoramic imagery on the upgraded primary display will result in significant improvements in capabilities.”

Whether the RVS 2.0 would include changes to the panoramic camera system was a major point of contention between the Air Force and Boeing — and its inclusion in the RVS 2.0 redesign package represents a major financial win for the service.

The two camera systems are separate but intertwined in the refueling process. The panoramic system is designed to detect and identify planes at a certain distance as they come in for refueling, whereas the RVS system provides video imagery that allows the boom operator to steer the refueling boom into a receiving aircraft and safely transmit gas.

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In a statement to Breaking Defense, Boeing confirmed that the RVS 2.0 package will now include upgrades to the panoramic cameras that “will provide aerial refueling operators seamless field of view day and night.”

“The enhancements include three pairs of panoramic visible cameras for daytime operations and long-wave infrared cameras for nighttime operations,” the company said.

A spokesman for Boeing further clarified that the enhancements involve hardware changes but declined to detail specific improvements to the baseline configuration.

After Deficiencies Identified, An Impasse Over Who Picks Up The Check

Boeing is locked into a fixed-price contract with the Air Force where it is financially responsible for paying to fix any design flaws that exceed the cost of the company’s $4.9 billion contract. (The company has already racked up more than $5 billion in charges, in part due to the cost of improving the original RVS.)

In 2020, the Air Force and Boeing reached an agreement that Boeing would design a new RVS 2.0 to replace the current vision system, which the service maintains does not provide boom operators with good enough imagery to refuel aircraft in all weather and lighting conditions.

While Boeing agreed to pick up the bill to replace RVS, the deal also stipulated that once the preliminary design review for RVS 2.0 is approved by the Air Force, it would become the official design specification for the system. From that point forward, the Air Force will be responsible for covering any cost overruns that emerge if the system’s requirements are changed.

Changes to the panoramic cameras at the back of the plane and to the panoramic display system at the boom station were not initially included as part of the deal. However, that equipment has also been plagued by deficiencies, and does not currently meet requirements to detect and identify aircraft at certain ranges, a defense official previously told Breaking Defense.

That soon left the Air Force and Boeing at another impasse. Since Boeing’s deal was for the RVS and not explicitly for related systems, Air Force leaders grew concerned that once the RVS 2.0 preliminary design review was approved by the service, Boeing would have fewer incentives to shoulder the financial burden of fixing the panoramic camera system, the defense official said.

Although Boeing first briefed the RVS 2.0 preliminary design in May 2021, Air Mobility Command recommended that the Air Force hold off on approving the preliminary design — a milestone expected to occur last fall — until it reached a consensus with Boeing on the panoramic camera system, AMC spokesman Col. Damien Pickart told Breaking Defense in January.

With the RVS 2.0 preliminary design now set in stone and approved by Air Force acquisition leadership, Air Mobility Command and Boeing, the Air Force now assumes financial responsibility for future changes to the system.

“In the coming weeks, the Air Force and Boeing will update the Engineering and Manufacturing Development contract with the Product Baseline Design Specification, which documents the jointly developed design and transfers technical responsibility to the Air Force,” Morrison said.  “The overall RVS 2.0 program is still on schedule.”

A critical design review for RVS 2.0 is currently on track for June 2022. The design for the new system — as agreed to by the Air Force and Boeing — will include a new Aerial Refueling Operator Station, improved visible cameras (as well as the addition of redundant cameras), better infrared cameras, redesigned image processors and a new full color 4k display.

The new design will allow the Air Force to resolve “significant portions” of two critical “Category I” deficiencies, Morrison said. Specifically, in its current state, the RVS doesn’t reliably convey to boom operators when the boom scrapes the surface of a receiver aircraft and therefore poses a safety risk.

Air Force leaders have stated that the KC-46 won’t be designated as fully operational until all critical deficiencies have been addressed — in 2023 at earliest, if current schedules hold. However, the service is gradually clearing the tanker to perform certain operational missions, with Air Mobility Command most recently sending four KC-46s to Europe, where it has supported refueling missions on NATO’s eastern front.

So far Boeing has delivered 57 KC-46s to the Air Force, the company said in a statement, with 179 tankers planned as part of the program of record. It has also delivered two KC-46s to Japan. Israel has also announced plans to buy two KC-46s.