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 by Christen Mccurdy Washington DC (UPI) May 27, 2021
Air Force program officials' failure to effectively manage the KC-46 tanker program necessitated a costly redesign, according to a report the Pentagon's inspector general released Thursday. The KC-46 is a multirole tanker aircraft, designed to refuel military aircraft compatible with international aerial refueling procedures. It's also equipped to carry passengers, cargo and patients. In the years between 2011, when the Department of Defense awarded Boeing the first contract for the tanker, and 2018, Air Force program officials continuously reduced testing requirements for the aircraft, the report said. Testing requirements didn't change even as evidence surfaced that the refueling boom might not work, nor after Boeing made changes during the early design review process. In 2018, the Air Force tested the tankers for full functionality and found that they failed to refuel multiple military aircraft, including the B-52 and the F-35A. The Pentagon has since issued two contract modifications -- one in August 2019 and one in March 2020 -- to redesign the plane's boom telescope. The deals total $100 million, the IG report noted, arguing that the redesign could have been avoided with more careful oversight. "Had KC-46 Program Office officials effectively managed the development and testing of the refueling boom for the KC-46A tanker, the Air Force would not have had to spend an additional $100 million for the redesign of the refueling boom to achieve its required performance," the report said. The IG report further notes that the tankers that have been delivered will need to be retrofitted, which "will result in additional undetermined costs," as well as a five-year delivery of the first tankers with mission-capable refueling booms. The IG's office recommended that the DoD require those overseeing major acquisitions to "conduct knowledge-building technology readiness assessments throughout the acquisition life cycle" and develop maturation plans for technologies that haven't been adequately tested. The office also stressed that the DoD needs to use scientific test and analysis techniques to develop its test and evaluation plans, and include the most critical or stressing test conditions in those plans. In addition to the failure of the refueling boom, inspectors have found foreign objects like tools and leftover parts in the planes, drawing criticism and calls for additional scrutiny from lawmakers. According to the report, the defense official tasked with responding to the report partially agreed with its recommendations, but did not respond to all of them. The Air Force cleared the KC-46 for limited, non-combat flights in February, with officials saying the planes wouldn't be ready for the battlefield for another two years. The service has also continued to award big contracts to Boeing to build more of the tankers, including a $1.7 billion deal in mid-January and a $2.1 billion deal awarded later that month.
91 European airports vow to be CO2 neutral by 2030 Paris (AFP) May 20, 2021 More than 90 European airports pledged Thursday to be carbon neutral by 2030, two decades earlier than planned by the sector. Airports Council International - Europe (ACI), an industry group representing more than 500 airports in 55 countries, proposed in June 2019 that its members be net-zero emitters by 2050. The ACI said Thursday that 235 airports - which represented two-thirds of Europe's passenger traffic in 2019 - had backed the 2050 objective, which coincides with the year the 27-nation ... read more
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