KC-46A aircraft assigned to the 157th Air Refueling Wing perform an elephant walk formation on the runway at Pease Air National Guard Base, Sept. 8, 2021. (US Air National Guard Photo by Senior Master Sgt. Timm Huffman)
WASHINGTON — The Air Force is soliciting industry feedback on “innovative” technologies and capabilities for its planned tanker of the future, with an eye toward getting it into service by 2040.
The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center on Jan. 31 issued a request for information on the Next Generation Air-refueling System (NGAS) project, commonly known as KC-Z, explaining that the new tanker is the “third of three increments to the Air Force tanker recapitalization plan, following increment 1 (represented by the KC-46 program) and increment 2 (known as KC-Y or ‘bridge tanker’).”
The RFI noted that the “anticipated” date declaring “initial operational capability” for the aircraft is 2040, farther out that at least one analyst watching the program closely was expecting.
“I was surprised the anticipated initial operational capability for NGAS is 2040. It is likely that this RFI and the subsequent Analysis of Alternatives will find that there are viable options for the Air Force to accelerate the fielding of KC-Z,” the Hudson Institute’s Tim Walton said in an email to Breaking Defense.
“Our research found that assuming a conservative approach, after initial US Air Force studies and requests for information in FY 2022 and 2023, KC-Z research and development could start in FY 2024 and last until FY 2031,” he added. “In short, the Air Force could likely achieve initial operational capability for KC-Z in the first half of the 2030s rather than 2040.”
L3Harris technologies and Brazilian firm Embraer have already announced plans to offer the KC-390 design for the KC-Z competition.
While the deployment date may be later than expected, the formal kick off of the NGAS effort comes a bit earlier than the Air Force had previously planned.
Paul Waugh, the Air Force’s program executive officer for mobility and training aircraft, told reporters last August that the Air Force planed to kick off a KC-Z analysis of alternatives (AoA) in 2024, with preliminary work beginning next year — further adding to speculation that the service could skip a KC-Y competition and expedite the timeline for KC-Z.
However, the new solicitation says that the AoA will instead begin this October, with the RFI laying the groundwork for “preliminary analysis and concept development.” The service thus “is seeking information on innovative industry solutions that might fulfill the most stressing and complex air refueling mission requirements of the future fight.”
Critically, the RFI stresses that industry proposals for NGAS must “address employment in contested scenarios.”
Meanwhile, this spring the Air Force is set to decide whether Boeing’s KC-46 Pegasus will face off against the Lockheed Martin LMXT for the KC-Y program. However, over the past year there has been much speculation that the service may decide to skip over the bridge tanker effort and just buy more KC-46s, despite that program’s long-standing problems.
Boeing on Jan. 30 announced that the Air Force has awarded the firm a $2.3 billion contract for 15 KC-46A Pegasus, a month after the company said it’s found a fix for a troublesome vision system.
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