Japan was the first international customer of the KC-46 tanker, which was developed under the main contractor of the US-based company Boeing. The first of the KC-46A aircraft to be delivered to the Japan Air Self-Defence Force (JASDF) successfully completed its first flight on February 8, according to the company’s development announced yesterday. It has been announced that the platform will proceed to the certification phase.

Boeing’s 767 production lines in Washington are conducting assembly stages for both the U.S. Air Force and japan for the KC-46A aircraft. The company’s Japanese partners produce 16% of the KC-46 body structure.

Designed as a multipurpose tanker capable of refuelling allied and coalition aircraft, the KC-46A can also serve as a transport aircraft.

For the first KC-46A in December 2017, Japan signed a $279 million contract with the United States. Tokyo, which has ordered a total of four aircraft so far, has expressed a bid to increase the number of tankers in its inventory to six. Later this year, the first platform is planned to be delivered to JASDF. The planes will be deployed at the Miho base in Tottori Province.