Boeing Opens Seattle Plant to Build Tanker Booms
October 16, 2012
Boeing this week begins assembling the first refueling boom for the Air Force’s new aerial tanker aircraft, the KC-46, which is a modified 767-200ER and will be produced in Everett.
The boom, which is deployed in flight to connect the tanker aircraft to the gas tank of the aircraft it is refueling, will be built at a new Boom Assembly Center that opened Tuesday at Boeing Field in Seattle.
Maj. Gen. John Thompson, the U.S. Air Force Tanker Program Executive Officer, said the opening marked “a big day” for the tanker program and for the Air Force.