Financing of the development of the aircraft has largely been borne by Boeing, in the hope of receiving major orders from the USAF.

At the start of the 2000s a considerable and sudden increase in their maintenance costs was leading the U.S. Air Force to run a procurement program for the replacement of around 100 of its oldest KC-135E Stratotankers.

[2] The USAF said that an assessment of the two types "shows that the EADS offering presents a higher-risk technical approach and less preferred financial arrangement".

[4] For its Commercial Derivative Air Refueling Aircraft program, the USAF decided to lease around 100 KC-767 tankers from Boeing after it was selected.

[6][7] In December 2003, the Pentagon announced the project was to be frozen while an investigation of allegations of corruption by one of its former procurement staffers, Darleen Druyun (who had moved to Boeing in January) was undertaken.

[8][9] Druyun pleaded guilty and was sentenced to nine months in jail for "negotiating a job with Boeing at the same time she was involved in contracts with the company".

In June 2005, Japan's first aircraft arrived at Boeing's Wichita, Kansas modification center to be fitted out with the tanker equipment.

[24] Delivery of the first KC-767J for the JASDF was delayed approximately two years due to development issues and the addition of the aircraft receiving FAA certification.

[30] Designed as a cost-effective option against the KC-46 and the A330 MRTT, the KC-767 MMTT involves the conversion of pre-owned Boeing 767s into aerial tankers by the Bedek Aviation Group, a subsidiary of IAI.

[31] As part of the conversion process, a significant proportion of the structure, wiring and systems of the aircraft are replaced, upgraded or refurbished, tailored to the customer's specific requirements.

[33] In 2008, IAI was contracted to convert a secondhand Boeing 767-200ER, into an AAR tanker which would also serve as VIP transport, for the Colombian Air Force.

[38][39] Australia selected the Airbus A330 MRTT in April 2004 after competition with the KC-767 due to the A330's larger fuel and cargo capability.

[40] [41] Boeing, teamed with BAE Systems and British Airways, offered the KC-767 to the UK's RAF for its Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft.

[44] In 2013, the Brazilian Air Force Command (FAB) selected IAI to provide two KC-767-300ER MMTT tankers, under its KC-X2 procurement initiative.

The "dry contact" transferred no fuel, but was intended to test the tanker's fifth-generation fly-by-wire telescoping boom.

[52] The tanker completed another test milestone on 12 April 2007 when its aircrew successfully extended and retracted both wing refueling hoses.