Japan gets two additional tankers under new KC-46A contract mod

The Air Force has awarded Boeing $398 million to deliver two additional KC-46A tankers to Japan, the Pentagon announced Nov. 29.

The contract modification will deliver a total of six Pegasus tankers to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, Boeing said in a press release, raising the nation’s planned KC-46 fleet from four to six.

Japan is the first foreign customer to fly the aircraft following approval from the State Department for an original sale of four tankers in 2016, though Israel is also on contract for up to eight.

Work will complete on the contract by June 30, 2025, the award announcement says, about four months before an anticipated delivery date for a fix for the KC-46’s Remote Vision System, called RVS 2.0.