KC-46 Pegasus
ICAO B762The tanker replacing the KC-135, and one of the newest types on the feed. Live KC-46 Pegasus positions.
Flying right now
Live · 30sAirframe
- Manufacturer
- Boeing
- Role
- Aerial refuelling and transport
- Class
- L2J — Landplane, 2 jet engines
- Crew
- 3 — two pilots and a boom operator
- First flight
- 25 September 2015
- In service
- 2019
Operators airborne
About the KC-46 Pegasus
The KC-46 is a militarised Boeing 767 and the aircraft that is slowly taking over from the KC-135. Enough have been delivered now that it is a common sight on the feed, usually flying the same long refuelling orbits over the continental United States and the North Atlantic that its predecessor does.
Its introduction has been famously difficult. The Remote Vision System — cameras and screens that replaced the boom operator lying in a window at the back — has needed repeated redesign, and for years the aircraft was restricted in what it was cleared to refuel. Those restrictions have been easing.
It reports as B762 because the ADS-B designator describes the airliner underneath: a Boeing 767-200. That means the occasional civil 767-200 freighter can share the page, though on a military feed almost everything here is a Pegasus.
Callsign prefixes
- PEARL
- A common US tanker block, now often KC-46
- GOLD
- Frequently seen on Pegasus training and refuelling sorties
- RCH
- Reach — when flying an Air Mobility Command cargo mission
How to recognise it
- —A widebody twin: two very large engines, a wide fuselage, and a noticeably shorter body than a passenger 767.
- —A refuelling boom under the tail and a wing-mounted pod on each side.
- —On the feed, sustained ovals at a fixed altitude mean it is holding a refuelling track.
Common questions
+ Has the KC-46 replaced the KC-135?
Not yet, and not soon. Around a hundred have been delivered against a fleet of roughly four hundred KC-135s. Both types will be flying together well into the 2040s.
+ Why does the KC-46 show as a Boeing 767-200?
The ADS-B type designator describes the airframe, not the mission fit. The KC-46 is built on a 767-2C, so it reports the same B762 code a civil 767-200 would.
+ What is the Remote Vision System problem?
The boom operator flies the boom from a screen rather than by looking directly at the receiving aircraft. Early versions distorted the image in some lighting, risking contact with the receiver, and the fix has taken years.