FAA approves key KC-46 certification

The Federal Aviation Administration has approved a key certification required to begin deliveries of the new KC-46 tanker, Boeing announced this week.

Supplemental type certification, which validates the tanker's design, was one of two remaining certifications needed for the company to begin delivering the KC-46 to the Air Force. The program expects deliveries to begin in October.

Boeing's KC-46 Program Manager Mike Gibbons said in a Sept. 4 press release the milestone is "one of the last major hurdles in advance of first delivery."

The last required certification will confirm airworthiness and will come from the Air Force. A service spokesman told Inside Defense in August the Air Force expects to award the military type certification this month.