Fri, Jan 28, 2011
Fuel Passed To Receiving Aircraft Through The Fuselage
System
The Airbus Military A330 MRTT has successfully passed fuel to
receiver aircraft using the Fuselage Refuelling Unit (FRU) for the
first time - meaning that all of the aircraft's refuelling systems
have now been demonstrated. In a three hour 10 min sortie from
Getafe near Madrid on January 21, the Future Strategic Transport
Aircraft (FSTA) variant for the UK Royal Air Force conducted a
series of "wet contacts" with two F-18 fighters of the Spanish Air
Force.
File Photo
Contacts were successfully performed with both fighters at an
altitude of around 15,000ft and at speeds from 250kt to 325kt. The
FRU is a hose and drogue similar to those fitted under the wings,
but with a higher rate of fuel transfer, and which is also
developed and supplied by Cobham of the UK.
The full complement of refuelling systems which can equip the
A330 MRTT, and which have now all been demonstrated, consists of:
the FRU, the underwing hose-and-drogue, and the Airbus Military
Aerial Refuelling Boom System (ARBS), plus the Universal Aerial
Refuelling Receptacle Slipway Installation (UARRSI) used to receive
fuel from another tanker.
"This demonstration of the last of the A330 MRTT's refuelling
systems clearly positions it as the most capable, flexible and
proven transport/tanker available to the world's air forces today,"
said Derivatives Antonio Caramazana, Head of Airbus Military. "We
now look forward to conducting the first contacts with Royal Air
Force fighters in the coming months."
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