WOEING: After years of KC-46 vision system troubles, Boeing thinks its finally cracked the code.

In May 2018, a group of defense reporters visited Boeing’s KC-46 manufacturing plant here in Everett, Wash., just months after the Air Force disclosed a major problem with a critical system that provides imagery to boom operators during the refueling process.

The message imparted by Boeing officials then was simple: A software fix, which would be available in months, was all that was needed to right the system.

At the time Air Force officials vehemently and publicly disagreed, and, it turned out, Boeing was wrong. The issue was more severe and would take far longer to rectify. After two more years of sometimes heated disputes with the Air Force, including a stern letter from the service’s top general to Boeing’s chief executive, the company agreed in May 2020 to completely redesign the KC-46’s Remote Vision System on its own dime.

Now, the company is ready to show off an early prototype of what it’s calling the Remote Vision System 2.0.

More than four years to prototype a new tracking system that should have worked the first time.

Plus: “Although the agreement on RVS 2.0 appears to have healed the rift between Boeing and the Air Force, the new system has already hit some snags and has a long road ahead of it.”

What a mess.