FLUG REVUE December 2004: A310 MRTT tanker presented

LUFTWAFFE GETS FIRST AIRBUS A310 MRTT

By Frank Vetter/K. Schwarz

This is the first time that an Airbus with air refuelling capabilities has been handed over to a customer. The Luftwaffe and the Canadian Air Force recently took delivery of their first A310MRTT (Multi-Role Transport Tankers, designated CC-150 Polaris in the case of the Canadian aircraft) during a formal ceremony at Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW) in Dresden.

A310 MRTT

The handover, which was over four months late, was preceded by a comprehensive test programme that had begun with the first flight of the “August Euler” (Luftwaffe registration 10+27) on 20 December 2003. However, the first trials with the two Mk32B-907 underwing refuelling pods did not take place until 12 March, and it was only in July that the first fuel flowed into the “receivers”. The aircraft refuelled during the trials were Panavia Tornados from the Luftwaffe and F/A-18 Hornets, though the latter were not Canadian but on loan from Switzerland.

On the basis of a joint civil and military test programme, the test items to be flown had been decided in discussions between the system engineers and flight test engineers of the Bundeswehr Technical and Airworthiness Centre for Aircraft (WTD 61) and Airbus. The tests included flying into the downwash field behind the A310 and also qualification of the refuelling system at various altitudes and speeds up to Mach 0.84.

Following certification by the German Civil Aviation Authority (LBA), the final military qualification tests took place in September. The aim of these flights was to carry out additional tests at different speeds and altitudes and also to assess the entire refuelling system by night. In a final flight, two Tornados from WTD 61 were deployed as “receivers” to demonstrate that two aircraft could be refuelled in parallel.

After 56 flights and 174 flying hours – twice as many as originally planned – the way was cleared for the first two aircraft to be formally handed over on 29 September in Dresden. The second Canadian converted Airbus is also to be supplied from Elbe Flugzeugwerke, while the remaining three aircraft earmarked for the Luftwaffe are being converted by consortium partner Lufthansa Technik in Hamburg. The first A310 MRTT to be converted there is expected to fly in January 2005, and all of them should have been delivered by the end of 2005.

Meanwhile, Airbus is energetically marketing the A310 MRTT as a versatile and inexpensive alternative to the Boeing 767 and A330 tankers. Discussions have apparently already been held with countries such as Brazil, Norway, Poland, Sweden and the United Arab Emirates.

From page 42 of FLUG REVUE 12/2004

Last updated 11 November 2004

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