EMD-1 Test Aircraft Conducted Four-Hour-20-Minute Flight Tuesday

Boeing's EMD-1 aircraft, which is essentially a KC-46A with inoperative hardware, conducted a 4.3 hour test flight Tuesday with its new refueling boom deployed.

The flight was part of Boeing's airworthiness testing for the aircraft. The Puget Sound Business Journal reports that a fully-militarized version with operational refueling boom and tank is expected to fly later this summer.

The booms have been under development since 2012.

The aircraft, based on Boeing's 767 airframe, will be capable of refueling two receiver aircraft simultaneously from special "pods" mounted under the wing. One crewmember known as the boom operator controls the boom, centerline drogue, and wing refueling pods during refueling operations. This new tanker utilizes an advanced KC-10 boom, a center mounted drogue and wing aerial refueling pods allowing it to refuel multiple types of receiver aircraft as well as foreign national aircraft on the same mission.

The Air Force plans to acquire 179 of the tankers over the life of the program. The first 18 are slated for delivery by August 2017.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.boeing.com, www.af.mil