Nigel Pittaway | Munich
The Royal Australian Air Force is looking at significant capability upgrades to its KC-30A multi-role tanker transport (MRTT) an Airbus Defence and Space executive has revealed.
Airbus DS head of Engineering Miguel Ángel Morell said that the RAAF is interested in two key developments the European manufacturer is developing for its international MRTT program.
The company is developing an automatic air to air refuelling system for the KC-30A’s Aerial Refuelling Boom System (ARBS), which Morell says is to remove the requirement for complex manual boom operations, reducing risk and permitting an increased number of receivers to be supported during each mission.
"The first aircraft to be fitted with JRE Link-16 will be an MRTT for France and the second customer is likely to be Australia."
Airbus DS has completed simulator testing of the automatic system and some in-flight evaluation (without contact) has been conducting using a Portuguese Air Force F-16 fighter. Morell said that the company will begin an incremental flight test campaign at the end of the year and will culminate in fully automatic contacts.
The second development is the integration of Link-16 Joint Range Extension (JRE) which will allow the KC-30A to act as a Link-16 data relay to enable information to be accessed by tactical aircraft which may be operating beyond line of sight (BLOS).
Morell said that the JRE upgrade will offer the relay capability via IP SATCOM (joint range extension applications protocol, JREAP-C) or through UHF DAMA (demand assigned multiple access) radio (JREAP-A). The system has completed laboratory integration testing and will shortly begin flight testing aboard one MRTT aircraft fitted with wideband SATCOM.
“The first aircraft to be fitted with JRE Link-16 will be an MRTT for France and the second customer is likely to be Australia,” Morell said.
In associated news, Airbus DS has placed an order for the development and provision of a Full Flight Simulator (FFS) to support the training of crews on the A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport. The contract, signed with Indra of Spain, covers the installation at the Airbus DS International Training Centre in Seville of a Level D FFS, which is certified to qualify pilots on the A330 MRTT with zero flight time in the real aircraft.
In addition to providing pilot flight-training, the new FFS, which will enter service in the second quarter of 2018, will permit the training of pilots in hose-and-drogue refuelling operations, and to act as a receiver from other tankers.
“It offers the opportunity of greatly reducing the amount of aircraft flight hours required to train air-to-air refuelling (AA) crews,” head of Military Aircraft Services, Stephan Miegel said.
“We are also examining the most cost-effective way to link the FFS to a Part-Task Trainer that would allow training of complete crews on AAR using the refuelling boom system in addition to hose-and-drogue.”
Disclaimer: The author travelled to Munich as a guest of Airbus Defence and Space.
Note: This article first appeared in the Defence Week Premium newsletter No.402 dated 23rd June 2016.