USAF Plans Same 737 Tank Retrofits As Commercial CarriersThe Pentagon has added $12 million to its 2014 spending plans to equip its Boeing 737-based C-40s with a fuel-tank inerting system, the same upgrade mandated for U.S. operators of Boeing commercial aircraft.
The 2013 spending plan anticipated spending about $1 million more than fiscal 2014-17 for various required modifications. In the fiscal 2014 request, the figure jumped $6.1 million for 2014 and another $6 million for the outyear estimates through fiscal 2017.
In procurement parlance, the project to retrofit a fuel tank inerting system (
FTIS) on the C-40 fleet is a “new start,” something Pentagon planners have been avoiding as budget pressures have forced tough choices. The most recently procured C-40C had
FTIS. The Air Force plans to modify 10 remaining C-40B/Cs, which are used for official transport.
An
FAA rule, finalized in July 2008, set deadlines in 2014 and 2017 for commercial operators to complete the retrofits. The Air Force’s 2014 budget justification document says the service maintains
FAA certification on its fleet and cites the same deadline for the inerting system that commercial carriers must meet: 50% completed by 2015 and the remainder by the end of 2017.
Last July,
FAA proposed a $13.57 million civil fine against Boeing for missing the Dec. 27, 2010, deadline for submitting for
FAA approval the service instructions for its
FTIS.
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