Airbus A330 MRTT : World’s 1st Certified Tanker 2022

Following a productive campaign in collaboration with the Republic of Singapore Air Force, the Airbus A330 MRTT has become the world's 1st tanker to be licenced for automatic air-to-air refuelling (A3R) boom operations in daylight (RSAF).

This functionality is part of Airbus' new SMART MRTT, which has been credentialed by the Spanish National Institute for Aerospace Technology (INTA). The A3R system needs additional equipment on the receiving aircraft and is aimed to mitigate the workload of air refuelling operators (AROs), make it safer, and improve the rate of air-to-air refuelling (AAR) transfer in operational situations to allow air supremacy.

"The A3R capability certification is the culmination of a prosperous trip that began in 2018 with the world's first robotic contact with a boom system in a joint effort with the Royal Australian Air Force" (RAAF). Since then, we've accomplished more aeronautical "world firsts" with the help of our customers, particularly the RSAF, a launch customer and the first operator to take advantage of this game-changing capacity. "With excellent air refuelling capabilities, the A330 MRTT retains its leading position," said Jean-Brice Dumont, Head of Military Air Systems at Airbus Defence and Space.

An RSAF A330 MRTT contributed to the formation, flight test campaign, and certification of the A3R as part of the collaboration between Airbus and the RSAF for the development of the SMART MRTT. Furthermore, augmented upkeep competences have been established, allowing for quicker settlement of ground tasks while optimising the effective use of spare parts.

Automatic air-to-air refuelling operations

The path of the A330 MRTT's advancement does not end here. Airbus has introduced Auto'Mate, a demonstrator that will establish, adjust, sophisticated, incorporate, and assess innovations that will enable Autonomous Assets Air-to-Air Refuelling (A4R) and Autonomous Formation Flight (AF2) operations. The UpNext Auto'Mate demonstrator will fixate on automating the receiver aircraft's tasks, which will necessitate the development of a number of technological advances.

These technological building blocks will be evaluated in flight in 2023, with a final end-to-end demonstration in mid-2024, using an A310 as the Tanker Refueling Flight Test Bed and DT-25 Target Drones as receiver aircraft in both instances. The Airbus Auto'Mate demonstrator's set of innovations will facilitate a chaotic move forward in the autonomy level of current Air-to-Air Refuelling (AAR) operations, reducing crew fatigue and training costs, improving safety and efficiency, and pioneering Unmanned Air-to-Air Refuelling processes (including Unmanned-to-Unmanned AAR operations), a highly demanded capability for future defence scenarios. Auto'Mate is Spain's first UpNext demonstrator, having been launched, developed, and completed in the country.

Article Source: Aerotime