Nichols Martin
Boeing and the U.S. Air Force‘s 418th Flight Test Squadron will collaborate to test the KC-46A Pegasus aerial refueling aircraft.
The service branch said Thursday it seeks to determine the tanker’s ability to receive fuel from a KC-10 Extender or a KC-135 Stratotanker platform.
One Pegasus unit arrived May 23 at the Edwards AF Base in California and will stay through June for the flight tests.
“The primary focus of the current test effort is certifying the KC-46 as a receiver aircraft behind the KC-135,” said Lt. Col. Paul Calhoun, 418th FLTS commander.
“The KC-46 is still an experimental aircraft owned by Boeing so they brought with them an army of engineers, maintainers and aircrew,” Calhoun added.
USAF intends for Pegasus to replace current tankers that the service branch has used over the past five decades.
