Tanker Transcendence: The KC-46A Multi-mission Tanker is built with pride by the program team.
Sean Martin has made a career with aerial refueling. As a U.S. Air Force veteran who served for nearly 25 years, Martin has over 8,000 hours of flight time and 500 hours of combat and combat support missions, serving as an aerial refueling operator (ARO) and Chief Master Sergeant with the service.
Many people would have called that a career, but not Martin. Following that storied time with the Air Force, Martin joined Boeing, first as a flight test ARO with the company’s KC-46 Program and now, 15 years later, as the program’s senior manager of business development.
In a sense, he has followed his passion from his first contact with the USAF as a 17-year-old in the New York Metropolitan area. Martin recalls, “I had an excellent recruiter who said (refueling) was the best job if you want to fly for the Air Force.”
The KC-46A’s primary role is to refuel other aircraft mid-air, transferring up to 1,200 gallons of fuel per minute, allowing the U.S. military to operate more effectively and making missions more efficient. “The KC-46 can also serve as a medivac mission in a hurricane or a typhoon. It is protected from chemical and biological environments and has defensive capabilities for different weapons,” said Martin. The KC-46 is also fully linked to the battle leadership through secure and non-secure systems.
Designed to replace the legacy KC-135 Stratotanker tankers Martin flew for the U.S. Air Force, the KC-46A multi-mission tanker provides next-generation capability for the United States and its allies. This aircraft can carry out multiple missions, including aerial refueling, cargo and personnel transportation and aeromedical evacuation. The innovative aircraft also provides communications and data connectivity, which are important for the modern military.
According to Lynn Fox, vice president and program manager of the KC-46 Program, it is in today’s world, the most advanced multi-mission air refueling aircraft. She says that the word “tanker” doesn’t give the aircraft justice. She said, “It’s much more than that; it’s refueling, connecting, and protecting,” citing the KC-46’s capabilities and survivability features. The KC-46 gives the crew and fleet situational awareness of the battlespace — an unprecedented capability in a tanker. “And we keep advancing it,” said Fox. “Just last year, the Air Force awarded us a Block 1 upgrade contract. This will allow us to add advanced communications capabilities to further enhance the aircraft’s data connectivity and situational awareness.”
In many ways, Fox and Martin are representative of the KC-46 program. Based in Everett, Washington, many passionate people who take pride in their work building the aircraft are veterans like them. When a crew comes to pick up a new KC-46A aircraft, it is a huge morale booster for employees to see the uniformed personnel coming through the factory. Fox shared a story about one teammate, an Air Force veteran, who is passionate about aviation. When he started at Boeing, he aimed to support the tanker because he wanted to give back more to his country.
In addition to the thousands of Boeing employees supporting KC-46, the program has 37,000 Americans nationwide hard at work today delivering the tanker. They are part of the tanker’s robust supply chain, spanning 650 businesses across 43 states, including sizable support in the Pacific Northwest. “Our supplier partnerships are critical in meeting our customer commitments,” said Fox.
To date, Boeing has delivered 81 highly advanced Pegasus, as the aircraft is called, and the U.S. Air Force has stood up six operating bases for the aircraft. Over the last five years, KC-46s have flown thousands of flight hours, transferring millions of fuel payloads to joint force receiver aircraft in missions and exercises worldwide.
As Boeing’s Puget Sound team keeps delivering KC-46A tankers, more and more service members will get to have, as Sean Martin’s recruiter said all those years ago, the “best job” in the Air Force.
