Airbus finalises KC-30 mods

“We have agreed and signed with the Australian customer several features of the boom, coordinated with US pilots and boomers,” Francisco Carrasco, Airbus Military’s director of the Saudi air force’s MRTT program, told media during briefings at the company’s Getafe, Spain headquarters in May. “The main idea is to have additional information for pilots and boomers when close to the boundaries of operation. ” That means a stick shaker for the boom control when the boom approaches the edges of its operating boundary, while dedicated control laws for large receiver aircraft are also under development.

“We have developed dedicated control laws to reduce the workload of the boomer drastically,” Mr Carrasco said.

Airbus is also finalising changes to the A330 MRTT’s flight management system software. The so-called ‘Wave 2’ FMS software will feature predefined patterns for air Airbus finalises KC-30 mods refuelling missions, rather than pilots having to manually input waypoints, which should substantially reduce pilot workload.

Mr Carrasco said the changes should be certified in the September- October timeframe, and implemented on the aircraft by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, Airbus Military head of engineering Miguel Morell told media further A330 MRTT enhancements are under development, to be flight-tested on the company’s A310 MRTT demonstrator.

The A310, which was used in development of the MRTT’s ARBS (air refuelling boom system) is currently being upgraded to bring it to the same configuration as the A330 MRTT. Repainted in a military grey paint scheme and due to resume flight-testing from mid- June, the A310 will be used to test and validate changes to the pilot director lights, night vision goggle compatibility with the boom, and ‘advanced’ training capabilities.

The changes to the pilot director lights will improve their functioning in extreme light conditions, such as sunrises/sunsets and rain, while a new night vision goggle filter will ensure compatibility with the boom’s infrared illumination system.

Perhaps most interesting of the changes is a new synthetic training mode for training boom operators, which means when the aircraft is in flight, they can practice refuelling virtual aircraft, rather than connecting with an actual receiver aircraft.

“Because [the MRTT is] using a 3D vision system, the idea is to have a synthetic aircraft on the [boom operator’s] screen which the instructor can select and modify, and the boomer will be trained to make contact with those different receivers. ” That both saves costs in not having to rely on the availability of a receiver aircraft, and improves the quality of training.

It also gives receiver pilots an assurance of the qualifications of the boom operator.

“Nobody wants to make contact with a new boomer,” Mr Morell quipped.

Airbus is also developing an enhanced debriefing system for boom operators, where flight parameters and video and audio of refuellings are recorded and downloaded onto a memory stick for playback on the ground as part of the mission debrief process.

“The idea is when you finish the flight you take a memory stick with the huge amount of flight parameters of the boom, and you can play back the operation on screens. ” Mr Morell says one “Middle Eastern” MRTT customer has already selected the boomer debrief system.

Meanwhile, Airbus Military CEO Domingo Urena has said the company had yet to receive a response from the Australian government on its unsolicited proposal to convert a sixth A330 into a KC-30 for the RAAF with Qantas Defence at Brisbane, which would keep the conversion line open ahead of potential future work for other A330 MRTT customers.

“This offer is still on the table, but unfortunately by the end of the month [May] we [begin to] shut down the Qantas Defence [conversion activity], we are going to finalise how we are going to finish aircraft number five, and then unfortunately those capabilities are going to be lost,” he said.

“We have never got an answer from the Australian government … [but] every country has the sovereign right to say something or to say nothing, so [I make] no criticism of that, [I have] no opposition to how they acted. ” Those comments prompted head of Qantas Aviation Services Glenn Brown to state that Qantas Defence’s Brisbane facility has a “bright future”, despite work on the final A330 to KC-30 MRTT tanker conversion now complete.

“The Brisbane conversion centre is a Qantas facility. We’re hoping to finish work of the fifth [KC-30] later this month, following that, Qantas is hoping to expand the maintenance footprint in Brisbane with substantial commercial work,” Mr Brown said.

“The facility will be used for the MRTT MRO work, as well as other commercial work as determined by Qantas engineering. ” n This article also appears in AA’s sister magazine, Australian Defence Business Review.