A Boeing 767-200ER destined to become the third of four KC-767A tankers for the Italian air force began its final body join in the company's Everett, Washington assembly facility on Monday (pictured below).
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During the final body join process, Boeing uses a system of articulating lasers and aircraft-mounted passive targets to measure positions and orientations of four fuselage sections relative to the wing stub section.
Upon completion the aircraft will be ferried to the Boeing modification centre in Wichita. The first KC-767A tanker for Italy is undergoing a 1,000h flight-testing programme in Wichita before delivery later this year. The third aircraft will be delivered late next year.
The Italian deal is a showcase for the KC-767A, with which Boeing hopes to win the US tanker requirement competition, in which it is up against the KC-30, an EADS North America / Northrop Grumman bid based on the Airbus A330. Japan has also selected the KC-767 as a tanker.
Source: Flight International