The Air Force has been muddling thru the business of buying tanker places for some years now. The current tanker fleet is largely the KC135 tankers purchased back in the Eisenhower administration. Worthy planes, but after 50 years of service it's time for replacements. After quite a bit of bungling, Airbus bids, court fights and hassle, USAF gave a contract to Boeing to make tankers based on the Boeing 767 jetliner. This should have been straight forward, make some more of a well proven civilian jet airliner, leave out the seats and put in tanks to hold jet fuel. So simple.
USAF has managed to do significant cost enhancement to this job. First off, they are having Boeing replace the existing 767 cockpit with the newer and jazzier cockpit from the brand new 787. This means changing all the instruments over to work off the 767 airframe. It also means reprogramming the 787 stuff. $oftware is spelled Money and Program Delays. The existing 767 cockpit worked just fine and is still flying hundreds of 767 from here to everywhere, but that wasn't good enough for USAF. They had an urge to spend tax money, just for the hell of it.
This procurement program has been running for nearly two years. They don't expect to deliver any aircraft for another FIVE well paid years. Boeing plans to spend a whole year working on the refueling boom. This is just a piece of pipe sticking out the back of the tanker, to which client aircraft plug in to fill up. A year to do a piece of pipe is craziness.
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