A new design is almost ready for the KC-46′s most troubled system

[turbinetree]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force and Boeing have almost finalized a new design of the problem-plagued system that must be overhauled before the KC-46 tanker is ready for combat operations, the service’s acquisition executive said Nov. 24.

Unlike legacy tankers, where boom operators look out a window and rely on line-of-sight visual cues to guide the refueling boom into a receiver aircraft, KC-46 boomers use a series of cameras and sensors called the Remote Vision System. After years of disagreements between the Air Force and KC-46 prime contractor Boeing about whether the current RVS met requirements, the parties in April agreed to replace the original system with a completely redesigned “RVS 2.0.”

“We’ve completed nearly every aspect of the design except the actual projection method,” Will Roper, the Air Force’s assistant secretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, said during a roundtable with reporters last week.

The Air Force is considering two different options to project the images from the tanker’s rear camera system to the boom operators who sit at the front of the aircraft: a collimated mirror design, which uses a curved mirror to project a wide field of view to the user, and an LCD-type screen similar to modern televisions.

https://www.defensenews.com/air/2020/11/30/a-new-design-is-almost-ready-for-the-kc-46s-most-troubled-system/

[Demovictory9]

1. Trump will demand credit

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

2. I flew as a navigator on the KC-135 Stratotanker.

When we had a second navigator I'd go back and lay in the observer's cot next to the boom operator and watch him or her make contact after contact with every type of aircraft -- even those from other countries -- at any time of day or night, in most types of weather. This was done manually by using winglets to fly the boom into position above the receiver's fuel inlet and hydraulics to extend the boom and make contact. It was a simple system that had been used for decades.

More sophisticated doesn't necessarily mean more efficient. The more systems you have, and the more complex the systems are, the higher the chances are you'll be sitting on the ramp as maintenance troubleshoots a problem while the older aircraft are in the air refueling aircraft.

Here are some of the aircraft we refueled:

And yes, we were that close. While our airspeed was about 400 knots, our relative speed was zero.

[SeattleVet]

3. A friend was a boom operator on a KC-135 tanker when I was in the Air Force.

He like to tell others that it took a LOT of training for him to get really proficient at laying on his stomach and passing gas.