Boeing and the U.S. Air Force completed the first flight of a full KC-46A tanker on September 25, keeping to the date the service announced ten days earlier. The “Pegasus” tanker flew for four hours, departing at 1:24 p.m., Pacific time from Paine Field, in Everett, Wash., and landing at Boeing Field in Seattle.

The flight was the first of a tanker-configured aircraft based on the Boeing 767-2C commercial freighter. Delayed from an expected flight earlier this year because of technical problems, the first flight accomplishes a key milestone in the Air Force’s “Milestone C” decision to begin low-rate initial production (LRIP) of the tanker, which is planned for next spring. Brig. Gen. Duke Richardson, the service’s executive officer for tankers, announced September 25 as the date at the recent Air Force Association conference, putting pressure on the program.

The Air Force could still be prevented from awarding Boeing an LRIP contract, however, if the U.S. Congress in the coming days passes a lengthy “continuing resolution” instead of a budget, which would limit the government to prior-year funding.

“Today’s flight reinforces that we are moving in the right direction and are on track to begin planned Milestone C testing later this year,” stated Tim Peters, Boeing KC-46 tanker vice president and program manager. “This is an aerospace industry first and the culmination of a lot of hard work by the team.”

Boeing said it will now conduct a post-flight inspection and calibrate instrumentation prior to the next series of flights, which will see the tanker’s refueling boom and wing aerial refueling pods deployed. The program expects to begin aerial refueling demonstration flights with different aircraft types, including the F-16, C-17, F/A-18, A-10, AV-8B and a receiver KC-46A, by the end of the year. The refueling exercise is the biggest factor in the Milestone C decision, Richardson said.