Tel Aviv: The Israeli Air Force (IAF) will receive the first Boeing KC-46A aerial refueling aircraft in the first half of 2025, though it had made a special request to get it earlier.
In 2022 , Boeing was awarded a $927 million contract for four multi-mission KC-46A tankers for the Israel Air Force (IAF) through the US Foreign Military Sales process. The KC-46 will replace Israel’s fleet of Re’em Boeing 707 tankers.
In March 2020, the US government approved the Foreign Military Sale to Israel of eight KC-46 tankers. Israel signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA) for two aircraft in February 2021 and amended LOA for two more KC-46 tankers in December 2021.
The KC-46 provides the ability to refuel Israeli and allied military aircraft, and relay data and enable rapid mobility for personnel, cargo and aeromedical missions. The platform features multiple layers of combat-ready defensive systems and countermeasures, including covert capabilities, to detect, avoid, defeat and survive threats.
On arrival, the KC-46 A will be equipped with special Israeli developed systems that are aimed at protecting the aircraft and allow it to integrate in the structure of the IAF’s comprehensive combat system in different aspects.
Israel has an option for the purchase of another four KC-46 A.
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
