Ready to refuel

You’re In The Air Force Now Dmo

signed a contract with Airbus Military (then EADS CASA) on December 20 2004 to convert five ‘green’ Airbus A330- 200 aircraft to MRTTs, to be known in Australian service as the KC-30A. Australia thus became the launch customer for the MRTT, which has since been ordered by the RAF, the UAE and Royal Saudi Air Force.

The first aircraft to be converted to MRTT specifications (cn 747) was taken off the A330 Toulouse line and flown to the EADS conversion and modification centre at Getafe, near Madrid. Only the prototype KC-30 was completed in Spain, with the remaining four green aircraft taken non-sequentially from the A330 line and delivered for conversion to Qantas Defence Services (QDS) at a purpose-modified facility in Brisbane.

Though transferred to the RAAF in December 2011, A39-001 remains in Spain where it continues development until, as expected, it returns to Australia later this or early next year.

Once in Brisbane, the baseline A330 was radically reworked before it emerged as a newly minted KC-30.

It left the QDS hangar with two wing-mounted Cobham 905 refuelling pods, plumbed to fuel lines intended for engines 1 and 4 on an Airbus A340 which shares a common wing with the A330. A fly-by-wire boom is then mounted at the rear of the fuselage, aft of the receiver 3D video camera system, which feeds a high resolution, panoramic video feed back to the refuelling operator (RARO)’s console in the cockpit.

The RARO’s station, also installed by QDS, consists of six video screens, sidestick controls and associated mission avionics – and storage box for the ARO’s 3D glasses! – and is directly behind the pilots, facing aft.

Above the flightdeck is the universal aerial refuelling receptacle slipway inter-face, allowing the KC-30 to be refuelled in flight. The extra wind noise generated by this modification necessitates the use of noise-cancelling headphones in the cockpit. Fuel is piped from this receptacle to the aircraft’s belly tank in the wing centre section.

Aft of the cockpit, integral air stairs and a crew rest area are added while the cargo bay undergoes modification to accept pal-letised military cargo.

Less visible changes to the aircraft involve the internal bracing of the empen-nage to absorb the considerable torsional flex of the boom in its deployed position. Unlike the KC-135, there is little out-wards evidence of this local strengthening, the only hint being a square bulge on the rear fuselage.

With the addition of visual and infrared-compatible external lights and directional infrared countermeasures (or DIRCM), and the application of a wraparound coat of grey, the aircraft is ready to flight test before acceptance by the DMO and its eventual user, 33SQN.

33SQN

Based at the seemingly ever-expanding ‘superbase’ at RAAF Amberley, 33SQN is now the proud operator of the service’s largest aircraft. Two are in Spain on boom remediation while the balance of the fleet proceeds at a slow, measured pace towards the type’s IOC (initial operating capabil-ity), expected later this year.

WGCDR Geoff Fox is 33SQN’s CO and comes to the squadron with extensive experience on multi-engined types such as the Orion and BBJ. It was the latter’s intro-duction into service that has informed how the RAAF has phased in the KC-30.

He points out that the lessons learned in bedding down the BBJ and Challenger have been very valuable: “There’s a lot of parallels with the technology – they’re both glass cockpit twin-engined jets with similar performance and similar issues with how you introduce the technology.

“With the BBJ and the Challenger to some extent, we were leading the way in the Air Force back then with low-visibility procedures, CAT 3 landings, RNAV ap-proaches, RNP and all of the sat-based navigation,” he said.

The result of that experience has led to the creation of a transition team that, according to WGCDR Fox, functions much like a Wing within the force element group, in this case Air Lift Group, with members of the team based at Amberley and others in Canberra.

The team, headed by GPCAPT Matt Hegarty, liases on behalf of the squadron between Airbus Military and the DMO to address issues as they arise and frees the squadron to go about the work of training air, ground and cabin crew.

WGCDR Fox commands the squadron from a new office complex next to a mas-sive, purpose-built maintenance hangar. With XO SQNLDR Justin Ryder he’s overseeing the implementation of the KC-30’s operational procedures and train-ing, as devised by the squadron’s training flight, comprising four pilots who assist with training and validation.

These instructors have been trained on the A330 by Qantas and according to WGCDR Fox: “Qantas procedures have translated across to what we do. Where we don’t have to change something, we won’t. The publications, checklists already devised by the original equipment manufacturer or Airbus Military or Qantas – we’ve used it, we don’t want to rewrite the rulebook. ” The squadron is committed to training eight qualified KC-30 pilots a year across two conversion courses. Long-term sustainment training packages are being developed by CAE Australia and Airbus Military and are due to be introduced by the end of the year.

Having flown the KC-30 for a little under a year, 33SQN is progressing at a measured pace toward IOC, expected later this year. According to WGCDR Fox, as FOC is reached: “We’ll be increasing training and experience level of crews. We’ll do that with exposure to flying supported by a recurrent sim training program. We have a contem-porary training development system similar to that of an airline with an additional em-phasis on AAR. We’ll use on-the-job flying experience supported by simulator training. ” In a building next to 33SQN HQ sits the KC-30 full mission simulator and RARO simulators. Both are linked and may in future be hooked up with the simulators of receiver aircraft located, for example, in Williamtown, enabling tanker and receiver to simulate air-to-air refuelling procedures without leaving the ground.

Boom Times

Before the KC-30, Airbus Military had never developed a flying boom and its ex-cursion into technology pioneered by rival Boeing over 60 years ago has been instruc-tive to say the least.

During testing in January 2011, the refu-elling boom on A39-001 broke off in flight while hooked up to a Portuguese F-16. Following that incident the RAAF opted to take delivery of the KC-30 but initially focus on hose and drogue refuelling while design issues with the boom were resolved, which should allow FOC to be achieved by the end of 2013.

“Fundamentally, the air-to-air role is something the Air Force hasn’t done since the retirement of the 707 and I’m conscious we have to do that slowly, and we’re doing that with hose and drogue and we’re just exposing our crew to that part of the opera-tion, at the moment with classic Hornets in nice conditions, starting with small steps and working our experience up,” explains WGCDR Fox.

That has included the deployment of a KC-30 to Townsville for Exercise Pitch Black in August.

“While we have a limited level of in-volvement in Pitch Black, we are conduct-ing this deployment away from our home base to help prepare for future exercises and operations,” WGCDR Fox says.

Notwithstanding the issues with the ARBS, 33SQN has set about training its AROs on the boom, sending four on ex-change to USAF KC-135 units at Fairchild AFB, Washington state. The squadron also is hosting a USAF exchange pilot from the KC-10 community, who has extensive expe-rience on tanking with and receiving from a boom. It also has a USAF exchange boomer with extensive experience as a test boomer.

Having flown both the KC-135 and KC- 30 while tanking, SQNLDR Ryder points out: “Once you’re doing air-to-air refuelling, it’s a lot of work for the tanker pilot because there’s a lot more that can go wrong with a jet your size when you’re joined by a hunk a metal to another aircraft. Things can get out of hand very quickly. ” It is here where the newer and larger KC-30 brings benefits over the KC-135.

“Unlike the 135, the KC-30 will trim itself and it’s bigger so there’s less effect from aerodynamic forces. ” As for wake turbulence for receiver aircraft, he states: “The 135 had certain wake issues, but from the boom testing in Spain, on the KC-30 it wasn’t a noticeable difference. ” As well as operating the boom when it comes online at the end of 2013, AROs also direct hose and drogue refuelling from their two-seat station. Before the principal ARO are four screens: three smaller at eye level and one recessed widescreen with a split feed showing both wing-mounted pods or a wide-angle feed of the boom receiver.

The FBW boom is ‘flown’ using a side-stick controller and at the ARO’s finger-tips is a touchpad multi-function display containing information including fuel flow rates, receiver aircraft’s tail number and call sign and scheduled offload.

The ARO selects the appropriate number of fuel pumps depending on the size of the receiver aircraft. With all pumps firing, the boom can transfer at the rate of 4,542lt/pm while the pods can offload 1,600lt/pm at peak flow.

And even though it carries up to 111t of fuel, the KC-30, unlike the KC-135, does not have to be manually trimmed in flight, because its FMS allows for CoG changes and makes appropriate corrections.

When not engaged in overseeing inflight fuel transfers, AROs also act as loadmasters and as such monitor weight distribution of the KC-30’s underfloor cargo load, should it be 26 commercial standard LD3 contain-ers or eight 463L military pallets and two LD3 containers.

At this stage, as indicated by 33SQN SENGO SQNLDR Andrew Brandham, there is no plan, and certainly little official enthusiasm, for fitting a main deck cargo door to the KC-30 for reasons related to cost, complexity and the already adequate amount of cargo capacity afforded the ADF by the C-17 and C-130J.

Crew Attendants

Even in its first year of initial service the KC-30 is already revealing its enormous utility, especially in the role of passenger transport. Enabling this capability are 33SQN’s crew attendants – ‘CREWATTs’.

WGCDR Fox described a crew at-tendant’s path to 33SQN: “‘We have a combination of remusters and direct entry, or a lateral transfer from overseas or other services – there’s a whole lot of avenues. The training is similar to other airman aircrew, they do Initial Education and Training including, combat survival, dan-gerous goods, and specialist training for the emergency procedures on the KC-30A, and we get Qantas to do that.

“We also use their simulator down in Sydney to do recurrent training. In the last year we’ve trialed the Qantas cabin services course which is the delivery, preparation and storage of meals and inflight service similar to that provided by Qantas flight attendants, including first class service, and we plan to put our CREWATTs through that as well. ’ Crew attendants also must deal with Amberley-based Quarantine and Customs officials when the aircraft returns with pas-sengers from an international destination, as happened recently when the squadron picked up an Army rifle company from a rotation in Butterworth.

It’s the crew attendants who also allocate seating amongst the 270-seat, two-class layout of the KC-30. Like most civilian airlines, meals are served on long flights, being heated in one of the aircraft’s two onboard galleys and served by up to of eight attendants.

WGCDR Fox says the Air Force is aware the issue of on-base, inflight cater-ing facilities will need to be studied: “But it’s question for Defence Support Group. At Amberley, we don’t have any in-flight catering facilities that are equivalent to a major civil airfield. We have to strike a balance between pax numbers and types of meals on a RAAF base versus what a civil provider can offer.

“And if we have a large number of pax going long distances we may choose to use a civil provider to get the right type of meals in the right format that we can fit on the aircraft. ” But while the squadron does not embrace a BYO approach to catering, it certainly does to in-flight entertainment.

“Most people have portable electronic devices, and at the end of the day most of our pax are used to travelling on C-130s and C-17s,” says WGCDR Fox. “Not only do they do without IFE but the seats [on the other aircraft] are far less com-fortable and it’s a noisier experience so, all in all, I think they’re quite happy to travel with us. ”

Engineering

Qantas Defence Services in Brisbane is tasked not only with the aircraft’s conver-sion to KC-30 standard, but is also the type’s designated through-life support provider, providing deeper level mainte-nance and overhaul of the airframe and refuelling system at its Brisbane Airport facilities. 33SQN’s new hangar, and spe-cialised maintenance equipment, is used by the squadron’s engineering personnel to perform basic servicing scheduling.

T/SENGO FLTLT Mick Blott explains: “Here we conduct the basic service scheduling, which includes Rou-tine servicing R1 through R4 and Flight Line rectifications to keep the aircraft serviceable. For example, the R1 is every seven days and R2 is every 19 elapsed weeks, involving airworthiness inspec-tions, lubrication and system level testing on the airframe, engines and MRTT components. ” He points out that 33SQN is benefiting from Qantas’s corporate knowledge of the A330, facilitating efficiencies in maintenance.

“Our maintenance processes are stream-lined with the A330 such that we utilise the same aircraft maintenance manuals that the Qantas maintainers use for the ‘green’ aircraft with the addition of ours having the MRTT components built into it. Whilst there are still challenges associ-ated with the MRTT side of things, due to the KC-30 being first of type, we are encountering efficiencies though a dedi-cated engineering and maintenance sup-port network which means minor issues can be rectified fairly quickly. Another benefit of the streamlined maintenance program is the use of electronic mainte-nance systems, which reduces the bur-dens of a paper-based system and allows changes to be effected rapidly. ”

On The Up

There can be little doubt that whether used as a people mover or air refueller the KC-30 will come to occupy a key capability niche within ALG and the ADF.

It’s already deploying twice the number of personnel faster and more comfortably than any other available platform. And when fully cleared to use its boom and hose and drogue it can truly be considered as a multirole aircraft par excellence.