Italian Air Force suspends plans to acquire a Boeing KC-46 Pegasus

The Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force) decided Suspend plans to acquire a fleet of Boeing KC-46 Pegasus In a surprise maneuver, tanker aircraft were used for aerial refueling.

In a brief statement on 24 June, Aeronautica Militare informed the Italian Ministry of Defence of its decision to to suspend the procurement process for a fleet of six new KC-46 Pegasus tanker aircraftdue to the emergence of “changing and unforeseen needs”.

Currently Aeronautica Militare (AM) operates a fleet of four KC-767A For its strategic transport and aerial refueling missions, the company relied on the civil Boeing 767-200ER (Extended Range) model, but wanted to have six aircraft of this type to cover its increased operational tasks.

Originally The plan was only to purchase two additional Boeing 767-300 aircraft, which would then be converted for multi-purpose transport and tanker aircraft.along with the modernization of its four KC-767A in service to adapt them to the equipment of the future fleet of six aircraft, but this option was rejected by the technical committee.

This technical-administrative committee, which is responsible for analyzing the possibilities for meeting the AM requirements, recommended the purchase of six new KC-46A from Boeingin a configuration compatible with the aircraft received by the USAF, at a cost of approximately 1.12 billion euros.

However, this process was eventually put on hold without the Italian Air Force providing any further details on the reasons for the change of heart. The reason for this could be that since January this year, the KC-46 still has six Category 1 deficienciesAccording to the US Air Force classification, Category 1 defects are serious errors that can lead to serious injuries, death or even loss of the aircraft. Most defects affect the remote vision system (RVS), which allows the air traffic controller to manipulate the fuel transfer column. Problems with lighting, poor image quality and distorted views of the aircraft resulted in several hard collisions, impacts and breakups with the receiving aircraft.