TMB 2016 – The Airbus A330MRTT.

 

MUNICH – Jeronimo Amador, head marketing for the A330 multirole tanker and transport (MRTT) gave an update on the A330MRTT that will certainly be offered by the European airframer to replace aging Royal Canadian Air Force Airbus CC-150 Polaris.

According to Mr. Amador, Airbus is aiming to improve its A330MRTT through a range of capability and performance enhancements.

A330MRTT first flight occured on June, the 15th, 2007 and its entry into service on June 1st, 2011 with its launch customer, the Royal Australian Air Force.

A total of 27 A330MRTT has been delivered at the beginning of July 2016.

The Royal Air Force is operating 13 KC-330 Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft, a 14th will be delivred soon, the Royal Australian Air Force 5, two more having been ordered, the Royal Saudi Air Force 6 and the UAE Air Force 3.

France has ordered 9 A330MRTT, Singapore 6 and South Korea, 4. This brings the total to 49 aircraft.

All together, they have accumulated more than 85 000 flight hours including 40 000 in 2015 for an average of 1200 flight hours per aircraft and its expecting that they will reach the 100 000 flight hours mark later this year.

One RAAF KC-30 deployed since September 2014 in the Middle East against ISIS in the Operation Okra made 631 sorties, an average of more than 30 a month for a total of more than 5000 flight hours, 250 a month. This aircraft achieved a 96 to 98 mission success rate and delivered more than 50 millions pounds of fuel or more than 28 millions liters enough to fill 500 000 cars.

Last May, the first A330 MRTT in a new production configuration achieved its power-on milestone with the first example produced for Singapore due to be flown in the fourth quarter of this year. The France and South Korea A330MRTT will be fitted with the package of aerodynamic improvements, structural modifications and avionics updates.

According to Jeronimo Amador, interoperability of the A330MRTT has been demonstrated by many flight test campaigns.

In October and November 2015, RSAF Boeing E-3E Sentry and KE-3 were tested as receiver from an A330MRTT using the flying boom. Then the A330MRTT received fuel from a KE-3. Nine flights took place, 176 contacts were made and 101 000 pounds of fuel were transferred. It leads to the clearance of the A330MRTT in the RSAF.

RAAF A330MRTT was cleared for refuelling RAAF Boeing E-7 Wedgetail, USAF Lockhheed Martin F-35A Lightning II, USAF Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Fighting Falcon and USAF Boeing C-17 Globemaster III.

RAF during a test campaign at Patuxent River in the United States in May and April 2016 cleared RAF A330MRTT FSTA Voyager for refuelling in flight the Lockheed Martin F-35B.

Airbus Defense and Space is pushing to develop an automatic refuelling, increased connectivity, additonial ISR capabilities, IFF Mode 5, ADS-B Out CAT-III autoland and new self protection options. Mr. Amador underlined that ‘the A330MRTT is connected on the battlefield: it’s not just a gas truck’.

A330MRTT current users will be able to clear their aircraft to operate with an increased maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of 238t. Acording to Mr. Amador, it will enable the MRTT to carry 20% more payload on a 6,000nm (11,100km) mission.

In a previous presentation, Jean-Pierre Talamoni, head of sales and marketing at Airbus told that is expecting 85 additional sales between now and 2024. India should acquire 6 aircraft and Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Poland through a multinational MRTT fleet, 4 aircraft.

Finally, Airbus is investing in an Indra full-flight simulator to be installed at its international training centre in Seville, Spain, fully operational by the first quarter of 2018.

As mentionned in an interview with Simon Jacques, CEO of Airbus Canada, during CANSEC 2016 in Ottawa last May, replacing the Royal Canadian Air Force Airbus CC-150 Polaris is one of the three priorities of the European company in Canada. http://infoaeroquebec.net/cansec-2016-les-trois-priorites-dairbus-defense-and-space-canada/

Since 2008, the Royal Canadian Air Force is relying on two Airbus CC-150 Polaris for inflight refuelling. In 1992, the Canadian government bought from Canadian International Airlines five Airbus A-310 built in 1987 and 1988 inherited from the merger with Wardair in 1989. Four have been converted in Combi configuration by reinforcing the cabin floor and installing a cargo door and a fifth one in VIP configuration. Two of the four Combi will be later converted in tanker to become CC-150T duplicating the Luftwaffe Multi Role Tanker Transport program.

Delivered in 2007, these two CC-150 MRTT will be operational in 2009 and took over Canadian Air Force Boeing CC-137 that fullfilled the air refueling task between 1970 and 1997. The three others CAF CC-137 serving exclusively for troop and cargo transport were retired in 1993 and 1994. In the meantime, air refuelling was performed by Lockheed CC-130H(T).

RCAF CC-150 Polaris are now 27 and 28 years old and their replacement is needed. Last May, at a symposium held in Montréal and titled ‘La défense au Canada au 20ième siècle’, Canada’s Defense minister Harjit Singh Sajjan said that issue will be discussed should be undertake by the Defense Policy Review initiated by his government.

During CANSEC 2016, Canada’s Chief of the Defence Staff, General Jonathan Vance talked about the issue of an RFP before 2020 for the beginning of the deliveries in the 2020-2022 timeframe.

 

 

 

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