Boeing KC-46 Pegasus

what is it?

The Boeing KC-46 Pegasus is an American military aerial refueling and strategic military transport aircraft developed by Boeing from its 767 jet airliner. In February 2011, the tanker was selected by the United States Air Force (USAF) as the winner in the KC-X tanker competition to replace older Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers. The first aircraft was delivered to the USAF in January 2019.

🔎How to recognise it: 2 jet engines · 48.1 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 914 km/htop speed
• range 11,830 kmwithout refuelling
• seats 54passengers
• size 188.2 tmax take-off weight
• built 113made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 11 years ago, in 2015.
• 🏎️Top speed is 7.0× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 48.1 m: about 11 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 31 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🌍Range of 11,830 km: Amsterdam to New York (≈5,850 km) without stopping.
• 🏔️Can fly 1.4× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight

2015-09-25

introduced

2019

status

still flying

number built

113

role

tanker/transport

origin

🇺🇸 United States

makers

Boeing

engines

2× Pratt & Whitney PW4062

crew

3

passengers

54

length

50.5 m

wingspan

48.1 m

height

15.9 m

max take-off weight

188.2 t

top speed

914 km/h

cruise speed

851 km/h

range

11,830 km

ceiling

12,200 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.