NEWTOWN, Conn: Boeing announced plans to offer the KC-767 in the competition to supply the U.S. Air Force with a new tanker under the long-delayed KC-X tanker program. The selection of the KC-767 for the job over a potential entry based on the larger Boeing 777 was expected after the Air Force released its final KC-X Request for Proposals on February 24, because the final RFP favors a smaller aircraft than the notional KC-777.
Boeing’s KC-767 offering is based on the Boeing 767 widebody airliner. The new tanker variant will feature a new digital flight deck taken directly from Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner and a new fly-by-wire boom system. Boeing also claims that its tanker program “will support substantially more jobs in the United States than an Airbus A330 tanker that is designed and largely manufactured in Europe.”
Boeing had initially selected Pratt & Whitney PW4062 engines for its KC-X entrant, but has reportedly considered General Electric’s GEnx engine developed for the 787 and 747-8.
The company has built KC-767 tankers for Italy and Japan, but these aircraft do not feature the 787’s cockpit and use mission systems that are substantially different from those to be used in the KC-X aircraft, due to the U.S. Air Force’s different requirements.
