The Air Force expects the first delivery from its struggling tanker program this year — but major defects still aren’t fixed

• Boeing missed its own goal for delivery of the first operational KC-46 tanker, and the firm is now obligated to hand 18 of them over to the Air Force by October.
• But several important flaws remain in the aircraft, and the firm and the government are working to resolve them.
• The KC-46’s years-long development has been stymied by problems.

The first operational KC-46A Pegasus — the tanker being designed by Boeing to replace the aging KC-135 — took its maiden flight on December 5.

That flight came after numerous delays and cost overruns that have stymied the tanker’s development over the past several years. Even though it got off the ground in December, Boeing admitted at the time that it would miss a self-imposed deadline to give the Air Force the first operational KC-46 by the end of 2017.

Read the whole story from Business Insider.

Featured image courtesy of Boeing