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Subject: Major dealys with KC-767
Mechanic    9/22/2007 8:31:18 AM
"ROME — After two years of engineering and testing, Boeing later this month will flight test a new refueling pod that officials hope will fix a persistent airflow problem on the wing of the 767 tanker that has helped delay deliveries to launch customer Italy. During testing of the first of four tankers destined for Italy in 2005, Boeing discovered that the pylons used to hold wing refueling pods created airflow problems at high speeds. A differently shaped pylon was devised, which officials were confident would resolve the issue, and definitive flight tests were expected for the summer of 2006. According to spokesman Bill Barksdale, Boeing “is confident it has the solution,” and that problems with the Italian planes should not impact the company’s bid to sell another version of the 767 to the U.S. Air Force. Boeing is competing against the KC-30, the tanker version of the Airbus A330, offered by EADS and Northrop Grumman. The Air Force later this year will pick a winner to supply 179 jets under a multibillion dollar contract, the first of which will enter service in 2013. Unfixed, the 767 tanker for italy would be forced to fly at slower speeds. In July, Gen. Vincenzo Camporini, head of the Italian Air Force, suggested that Boeing had offered Italy a first tanker with limited capabilities. “I will not accept limited operational capability,” Camporini said. “I need an aircraft capable of refueling from all three points in a flight envelope suitable for refueling.” Barksdale said he was not aware of Boeing making such an offer. An Italian Air Force spokesman declined to clarify whether Camporini was referring to an aircraft unable to fly at top speed due to the airflow problem. Camporini said in July he would wait out the fixes and was thus prepared to receive his first tanker in 2008, three years later than the original 2005 delivery date. “We’re disappointed with progress and we know we have disappointed Italy, but we also know the Italians have confidence in us to turn the corner to deliver in the second quarter of 2008,” Barksdale said. To make amends, Boeing has covered Italy’s costs of returning to service 707 tankers that the 767s were to replace. Boeing, which was promising a mid-2007 delivery as late as this spring, before announcing the slip to 2008 this summer, has learned that having just one test aircraft at its Wichita plant — a test aircraft which is also destined to be the first of four Italian tankers on order — had slowed down testing and certification, Barksdale said. Barksdale said flight testing of the new pylon was delayed one year because it became “wrapped up” in a backlog of other required tests on the single tanker, Barksdale said. “Having one aircraft as a test aircraft was not the best path forward. The new remote-vision technology and pods made doing everything on one plane difficult,” he said. Changes to software and switching to fly-by-wire technology had also increased the challenge, he said. Meanwhile, the delivery of the first tanker Boeing is converting for Japan has slipped from 2007 into 2008, thanks to additional FAA certification requested by the customer, efforts to improve lighting for night use of the refueling boom and teething problems with the flight deck communications, Boeing said. The Japanese Ministry of Defense learned on July 26 “that it was impossible to deliver KC-767 by the end of July, the promised date of delivery, since it would take more time to obtain a certificate of plane safety from U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, which they were supposed to obtain before the delivery date under a contract,” spokesman Hiroyuki Iguchi said. “Due to delays on several kinds of tests conducted by Boeing and other things, manufacturer of the plane … requested the extension of the delivery date. On July 30, MOD gave its approval for the extension to March 7, 2008.” Iguchi said Boeing was given an oral warning given the three delays “and these delays gravely affected several kinds of tests, training and so on that are scheduled to be conducted after the delivery of the plane. ---" http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=3055859&C=
 
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Mechanic       9/22/2007 8:31:58 AM
h*tp://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=3055859&C=
 
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reefdiver       10/15/2007 10:46:28 AM
Delays or not, at least some in Congress are getting more and more interested in seeing Boeing win the USAF contract:
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66 Congressmen, Labor Group Urge USAF Not To Buy Airbus
http://gcirm.mconetwork.gcion.com/RealMedia/ads/Creatives/default/empty.gif" width=2 border=0>http://gcirm.mconetwork.gcion.com/RealMedia/.ads/adstream_lx.ads/www.defensenews.com/story.php/273785455/300x250_1/default/empty.gif/34376535616561353437313337633230?_RM_EMPTY_" width=0>
Sixty-six members of Congress and a California labor union are urging Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne not to buy Airbus refueling planes for the U.S. Air Force.
Rather, the lawmakers and laborers say, buy from U.S. plane maker Boeing.
The American company and its European archrival are vying for a contract that could be worth $40 billion.
In a letter to Wynne Oct. 12, the lawmakers argued against splitting the refueling tanker buy between Boeing and a team comprised of Northrop Grumman and EADS, Airbus? parent company.
In a separate letter, the California Labor Federation told Wynne that Boeing ?supports more than 4,000 jobs and contributes an estimated $175 million? to California?s economy.
Airbus planes would be largely built in Europe, with only final assembly performed by nonunionized workers in Alabama.
 
 
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