The United States Air Force (USAF) has awarded a contract to Boeing for 15 additional KC-46A Pegasus tankers in an agreement valued at $2.38 billion. The Lot 11 contract takes Boeing to a total of 168 KC-46A's on order, of which it has already delivered almost 90 to the US Air Force and four to Japan.
USAF orders another 15 KC-46A Pegasus tankers The Air Force continues to invest in modernizing its aerial refueling fleet with another lot of 15 KC-46A tankers due for delivery by June 2028. After being approved by the US Air Force Air Mobility Command for global combat operations in 2022, the KC-46A completed its first full-scale operational deployment in October. Since entering service, the KC-46A has logged more than 100,000 flight hours and offloaded more than 200 million pounds of fuel.
Lynn Fox, vice president and KC-46 program manager, commented, "This is another big milestone for our team, and we look forward to delivering the world’s most advanced multi-mission aerial refuelers for years to come." In 2023, USAF awarded Boeing a Block 1 upgrade contract worth $184 million to enhance its communications capabilities. This July, it also handed Boeing a $16.
8 million contract to enhance the KC-46A's software and data capabilities, including upgrades to the Onboard Performance Tool software, cargo loading, and landing data management. These three aircraft share both similarities and differences. It was less than a year ago that the Air Force confirmed a Lot 10 contract with.
