Tanker’s Debut Flight in 2012

The Air Force expects a first flight for its KC-X tanker by 2012 and hopes to have the plane flying refueling missions by 2017, service officials said Thursday.

If all goes well with the latest restart of the $35 billion competition, the service expects to buy four test airplanes that will be used for test flights and later be modified into production aircraft, according to a service announcement.

The Pentagon plans to have the first lot of seven new tankers in production by fiscal 2013, with the first aircraft delivered to the Air Force in fiscal 2015, according to the announcement.

The current request for proposals, released Wednesday, also requires that 18 aircraft be delivered by 2017. Once this happens, the service will look at whether the aircraft have reached their initial operational capability, clearing them to perform basic aerial refueling missions, according to the announcement.