The US Federal Aviation Administration has awarded the Boeing KC-46 Pegasus tanker a supplemental type certificate (STC), thus completing the type’s FAA certification process.
“To receive its STC, Boeing’s team completed a series of lab, ground and flight tests, which commenced in 2015,” says the airframer. “As part of the required flight testing, the team validated the KC-46’s boom and drogue aerial refueling systems met FAA certification criteria.”
Boeing completed STC flight tests in the first half of 2018.
The STC follows an Amended Type Certificate in December 2017 for the 767-2C aircraft on which the KC-46 is based. A US Air Force Military Type Certificate is expected “in the coming months,” adds Boeing.
The MTC covers systems that the FAA cannot certify, such as aerial refueling, defensive, and other military-specific systems, says Boeing.
In August, the USAF was granted $2.4 billion to procure 15 KC-46 aerial refuelling tankers. Boeing is scheduled to deliver its first of the new tankers to the service this October, more than 16 years after the aircraft was proposed as a replacement for the 1950s-era KC-135 Stratotanker.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
