Boeing and the Directorate for Air Armaments and Airworthiness (DAAA) have signed an order for the company to continue providing full Performance Based Logistics (PBL) support to the Italian Air Force four KC-767A tankers through December 2025. Under the contract, Boeing will deliver “tip to tail” support for the four Italian Air Force refueling tankers, including line and heavy maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO), supply chain, engineering support, publications revisions, and flight and maintenance training. Boeing has provided integrated fleet support for the Italian Air Force’s refueling tankers since 2011. The sustainment and training have enabled high utilization, including more than 9,000 missions, over 36,000 flight hours, and more than 123 million pounds of fuel offloaded.
“Boeing is committed to strengthening the more than 70-year partnership with the Italian Armed Forces and industry. We have exceeded our KC-767 strategic partnership requirements to date and will continue to support Italian industry under this new contract. And Boeing remains committed to continuing our excellent relationship with the Italian defence forces and industry,” said Indra Duivenvoorde, Senior Director, Boeing Government Services Europe & Israel.
“These aircraft are truly a strategic and highly visible Italian national asset. Through the partnership with Boeing, the Italian Air Force aims at having continued high mission readiness and success throughout the 41-month extended PBL agreement period of performance,” said Lt. Gen. Giuseppe Lupoli, Director of DAAA in Rome.
The Italian Air Force ordered four aircraft. This version is based on the 767-200ER and is named the KC-767 Tanker Transport, and is fitted with boom and hose-drogue refueling systems on the centerline with hose-drogue wingpod systems. These aircraft officially entered service on 17 May 2011 with the 14º Stormo. After entering service, the two KC-767s have supported NATO operations in Afghanistan and Libya. The final two tankers were delivered in late 2011. On average, Italian Air Force KC-767s operate at twice the utilization rate per aircraft of legacy military tankers. In recent years, Boeing’s sustainment and training have assisted critical missions including Operation Inherent Resolve, the Operation Aquila Omnia evacuation missions from Kabul, and COVID-related missions to repatriate Italian citizens and transport vital supplies.
The Boeing KC-767 is a military aerial refueling and strategic transport aircraft developed from the Boeing 767-200ER. The tanker received the designation KC-767A, after being selected by the U.S. Air Force (USAF) initially to replace older KC-135Es. The tanker was developed for the Italian and Japanese air forces, who ordered four tankers each. Financing of the development of the aircraft has largely been borne by Boeing, in the hope of receiving major orders from the USAF. Boeing’s revised KC-767 proposal to the USAF was selected in February 2011 for the KC-X program under the designation KC-46. The Boeing tanker officially received the KC-767A designation from the U.S. DoD in 2002 and that appeared in the 2004 edition of the DoD Model Designation report.
