With two aircraft flying about 50 feet apart at hundreds of miles per hour, aerial refueling, even under the most ideal conditions, is an exacting maneuver. However, a Boeing KC-767 tanker recently demonstrated technology that will improve safety for tanker aircrews as well as for the airplane being refueled.

Using a series of cameras mounted on the tanker's fuselage, the KC-767 remote vision system (RVS) provided high-definition, stereoscopic imagery to the aircraft's boom operator stationed behind the KC-767 cockpit. Boeing flight crews recently activated the RVS while on a test flight and evaluated the system using a Cessna Citation in the fuel receiver position.

"This advanced technology will give KC-767 aircrews wingtip-to-wingtip visibility behind their aircraft," said Mark McGraw, Boeing vice president for Tanker Programs. "In addition to improving safety, RVS will enhance all-weather, day/night refueling capabilities for military forces around the world."

Since its first flight in May 2005, the KC-767 tanker has logged more than 120 flights and 360 hours. Boeing is building tankers for both Italy and Japan, with delivery to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force in February 2007, followed by delivery to Italy in mid-2007.

In addition to flight-testing the KC-767 for international customers, Boeing is competing for a contract to build the U.S. Air Force's next-generation tanker aircraft. A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is one of the world's largest space and defense businesses.