As reported by Air Force Magazine in John A. Tirpak's" After KC-46, USAF Looks Ahead to "Bridge Tanker", the commander of the Air transport command (Air Mobility Command) of the US air force, General Jacqueline D. Van Ovost said that at the end of 2020, the command plans to officially launch a tender for new refueling aircraft for the US air force under the KC-Y program to finally replace the fleet of Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker and McDonnell Douglas KC-10 Extender refueling aircraft. At the end of the year, an official request for industry proposals for CS-y should be issued. In turn, the KC-Y program should become a transition to the program for creating a promising "futuristic" KC-Z tanker aircraft of a fundamentally new type.
The Airbus A330 MRTT tanker aircraft offered to the US air force under the KC-X program in the guise of the Northrop Grumman KC-45A (C) Northrop Grumman
The purchase of KC-Y aircraft should begin after 2027 upon completion of delivery to the US air force of 179 new Boeing KC-46A Pegasus refueling aircraft of the KC-X program. The first funding for the COP-Y program is expected from around fiscal year 2022. It is reported that the KC-Y aircraft should be based on an existing platform based on a commercial aircraft.
It is expected that only two aircraft will actually meet the proposed requirements as the basis for the KC-Y program - the current KC-46A and the European Airbus A330 MRTT (Multi-Role Tanker Transport) tanker aircraft, which won under the designation KC-45A at the first stage of the KC-X competition in 2008, but then lost to the offer of Boeing KC-46A (based on the Boeing 767) at the subsequent stage of the program in 2011. We now know that Boeing intends to offer bids for KC-Y is a modified version of the KC-46A, while Lockheed Martin has partnered with Airbus group to re-offer United States air force aircraft based on the Airbus A330 MRTT (in competition for KC-X, the flight was promoted by Northrop Grumman Corporation).
It is believed that the A330 MRTT now has a good chance for the KC-Y program, since the US air force is interested in a larger tanker aircraft than the KC-46A (within the KC-X, the smaller size and cost of the KC-46, on the contrary, played a key role in its choice). If the A330 MRTT aircraft is selected, Lockheed Martin Corporation intends to organize its Assembly at its facility in Marietta (Georgia), where the production of C-130J Super Hercules military transport aircraft is carried out (and previously the production of C-5 Galaxy aircraft was also carried out).
As for the COP-Z program, it is still in the conceptual stage.
