The plan to fix the KC-46’s troubled Remote Vision System (RVS) is delayed as the U.S. Air Force and Boeing try to work through a longstanding issue with the aircraft’s panoramic visual system—how it meshes together a system of cameras to detect incoming receiver aircraft—as well as the quality of the cameras themselves.
View the KC-46 Program Profile
The Preliminary Design Review (PDR) of the “RVS 2.0” system began in May 2021 and, after initial positive reactions, Air Mobility Command expected it to close in the fall of last year. Now, the Air Force has recommended the PDR stay open until a fix is reached to address deficiencies with the panoramic visual system, which detects, recognizes and identifies receiver aircraft during refueling.
“Despite the delay with PDR closure, we remain confident in the ongoing efforts of the joint Air Force-Boeing technical team to identify and address deficiencies so as to ensure the KC-46 can safely perform its primary aerial refueling mission,” AMC spokesman Col. Damien Pickart said in a statement.
The issue focuses on three cameras on the belly of the aircraft and how the system integrates their feeds. The Air Force requires the system to be able to detect an incoming receiver aircraft at a sufficient distance to allow the boom operator to prepare the refueling operation. As it stands now, the system is not able to automatically detect the receiver to the extent the Air Force wants, and the operator in certain conditions cannot see the receiver from the required distance either.
During a refueling mission, the KC-46 flies with the panoramic system cameras on, giving the boom operators a 185-deg. view of the area behind the aircraft to detect incoming receivers. When aircraft approach the tanker for refueling, the operator activates the boom system and the main display in the operating station shows the 3D boom camera system with the panoramic display above on three screens.
The Air Force wants the panoramic camera system to be able to identify incoming receiving aircraft so the RVS can adjust its settings for the individual receiver—an F-16, for example, has different load parameters than a heavier aircraft like a C-17. In addition to situational awareness, the panoramic display helps with drogue refueling from the KC-46’s wing pods.
Despite the ongoing issue, the Air Force said overall RVS 2.0 development is still on schedule. Boeing declined to provide comment.
“The [Department of the Air Force] has not yet accepted the completed design or closed the PDR,” the service said. “The RVS 2.0 design will be incorporated into the contract and become a government-furnished design specification at PDR closure.”
The Air Force and Boeing in April 2020 announced they had reached an agreement on the plan to replace the RVS, which is an overhaul of the technological backbone of the system connecting the boom operator inside the front of the tanker to the boom at the rear. This includes new high-resolution color boom cameras, large color displays, major changes to the whole operator stations, improved aircraft distance measurement and augmented reality. Air Force and Boeing announced they had finalized the design in November 2020. While the boom cameras are being replaced as part of RVS 2.0, there is not yet an agreement on the panoramic cameras.
The quality of the camera system and this automatic detection capability is expected to be part of the groundwork for a fully automated refueling system. The then Air Force acquisition head Will Roper, in announcing the RVS 2.0 plan, said the updated KC-46 would be the basis for the capability in future tankers. This includes the upcoming KC-Y—or “bridge tanker”—program, which saw the Air Force ask companies about their plans for autonomous refueling in a request for information issued last July. The Airbus A330 MRTT is expected to certify automated refueling in daylight this year and at night in 2023.
The issue of the panoramic canted cameras has been a longstanding disagreement between the Air Force and Boeing.
“Because of this design [the RVS display] does this stretching and contracting of what the operator sees that varies across the field of view,” Roper said in 2019. “This thing is like a rubber sheet. It’s stretched in some places, it’s contracted in some places. And so their design proposal is to take out that rubber sheeting effect.”
An Air Force analysis suggested this canted camera setup would not create a clear enough display, and Roper suggested a redesign so the cameras are all facing forward, such as how the Tanker Remote Vision System installed in KDC-10s is designed. Possible changes to the outer moldline of the aircraft would require the FAA to recertify the aircraft, however, and the Air Force and Boeing are hesitant to require such a move.
The Air Force expects installation of the new RVS system to begin in 2023, with Boeing covering the additional costs. RVS problems have been the biggest issue keeping the KC-46 from becoming fully operational, with Air Force officials saying they would not deploy a Pegasus to combatant commanders with limitations. It is not the only issue being addressed, however.
KC-46s cannot refuel slow-moving aircraft like the A-10 attack jet due to a lingering “stiff boom” problem. The Air Force is working with Boeing to replace a telescoping actuator in the refueling boom, this time with the government covering the cost. This design is scheduled to complete in fiscal 2024.
“The Air Force is working with Boeing to ensure retrofit kits for the stiff boom are available as quickly as possible once the redesign effort is complete,” the service said in a statement.
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