Boom times ahead for tanker
This year is set to be a big one for the RAAF’s KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) which, if everything goes to plan, will finally have an operational boom system.
Nigel Pittaway | Melbourne
Furthermore, if the planned milestones laid out for 2015 are achieved, the platform will achieve Final Operating Capability (FOC) by the end of the year.
One KC-30A is currently deployed to Al Minhad Air Base in the United Arab Emirates, supporting the F/A-18F Super Hornets of the Australian Air Task Group (ATG) and coalition aircraft in the prosecution of ISIL targets in Iraq.
Although the deployed aircraft is only using the probe and drogue refuelling system, it is winning accolades as a reliable and capable airborne tanker and, coupled with its Air Logistics Support (ALS) capability, it has earned respect from inside and outside the RAAF.
The fly by wire Aerial Refuelling Booms System (ARBS) has been the subject of a lengthy and complex remediation program with a lot of effort from Airbus Defence and Space (formerly Airbus Military), the Air 5402 project office and the RAAF and is due to be presented to the ADF Airworthiness Board for consideration during the life of this issue of ADM.
Remediation plan
Work to complete certification of software and hardware modifications to the ARBS progressed throughout last year, after the RAAF had expressed concern with its operation under certain conditions, specifically at the edges of its operating envelope.
The first Australian aircraft has remained at the manufacturer’s facility at Getafe outside Madrid since it was first converted, to assist with ARBS testing and certification.
A second RAAF aircraft returned to Getafe last March to support certification of the latest boom configuration, known as Update 3. This second aircraft was used to test boom operations with a large receiver.
One of the features of the Update 3 modification is the addition of a second set of boom control laws at the request of the RAAF, to improve ARBS responsiveness when refuelling large aircraft, and can be selected on or off during a mission as required. The Update 3 modification supplements the earlier Update 2 work, which included human machine interface improvements to the control stick and displays.
“The operator is better informed with less information,” Airbus D & S VP head of military derivatives programs, Antonio Caramazana explained.
Caramazana said manufacturer’s flight testing had been completed by the middle of last year and the subsequent certification and qualification testing had been accomplished by the end of August 2014.
Both aircraft at Getafe are undergoing periods of heavy maintenance before being flown to Australia in early 2015.
The boom remediation and upgrade costs are being shared between Airbus Defence & Space and the Commonwealth under the remediation agreement (Deed Four) signed in the middle of last year.
Pod remediation
Back in Australia a remediation program to improve the performance and reliability of the Cobham 905E underwing pods is underway, with recent testing revealing some pleasing results.
This work includes replacement of the hoses and improved markings to better indicate the correct fuel transfer zone, replacement of hose control units to improve hose reel response and improvements to the coupling to prevent fuel spray or leakage.
“The pod upgrade program is proving to be very effective. It was tested by ARDU recently and the test pilots basically reported no issues and a junior pilot would have no problems tanking from the aircraft,” explained Commander Air Mobility Group, Air Commodore Warren McDonald at the end of 2014.
“We did various spot checks of current receiver clearance and it tested perfectly. The hose reel response was as expected, if not better. It was pretty much a rework of the entire pod and that has been very successful and working well.”
This level of confidence in the probe & drogue system also assisted with urgent operational clearances allowing coalition aircraft to use the KC-30A in Iraq and French Air Force Dassault Rafales and US Marine Corps AV-8B Harriers have successfully received fuel in-theatre.
RAAF boom testing
Air Commodore McDonald said that a highly experienced ex-USAF boom operator had been hired to provide an independent assessment of ARBS operations following the manufacturer’s testing.
“He was cautious going into the retest program because we had had so many problems in the past, but he said it’s a different boom altogether. He rated handling in qualities in almost all areas of the envelope as one, on a scale of one to ten. Some very minor areas of envelope handling qualities he rated two, but no lower,” he detailed.
“He said it went wherever it was pointed, and for a 16-metre boom that has its own flight control laws, he was very complimentary and could only see that we’ll move forward in the right direction in boom.
“Airbus Defence and Space has put in a very large effort to make sure that the boom performed to the best it possibly could, and it certainly did.”
Air Commodore McDonald said a special flight permit would be sought at an Airworthiness Board meeting in March which, if signed by the Chief of Air Force the following month, will clear the way for boom operations to begin in Australia.
The three unmodified aircraft will then cycle through the ARBS upgrade process and, to assist training, the ARBS part task trainer at Amberley will receive the same software and display modifications to replicate the new boom handling qualities.
It is important to ensure that the training and sustainment regimes are in place, because an aircraft is due to fly across to Edwards Air Force Base in August to begin flight testing with the Lockheed Martin F-35A Joint Strike Fighter.
Australia’s F-35As are almost identical to the USAF aircraft and therefore use the boom system of refuelling. Clearance of the F-35A is therefore a priority before the RAAF aircraft can be ferried to Australia on schedule in late 2018 or early 2019.
It is worth noting that the only boom-capable aircraft currently in RAAF service are the C-17A, E-7A Wedgetail and the KC-30A itself. But by 2023, there will be 72 Joint Strike Fighters, up to four more C-17As and at least eight P-8A Poseidons added to the total.
When the retirement of the ‘classic’ F/A-18A/B Hornet fleet is factored in and decisions on the future of the Super Hornet are made, it could well be that the number of probe and drogue capable aircraft in service in the middle of the next decade is reduced to just 12 EA-18G Growlers.
At most there will be 36 hose and drogue capable aircraft, turning the current dynamic completely around.
Beyond ARBS certification there is the modification of the five aircraft with the Northrop Grumman Large Aircraft Infra Red Countermeasures (LAIRCM) system, which has been deferred due to the priorities of the two remediation programs.
That process was scheduled to begin in late 2014 and run through part of 2015 but, in the meantime, the aircraft deployed to the Middle East is relying on threat warnings and procedures for protection.
Running concurrently with boom and pod remediation has been an avionics upgrade, known as ‘Wave 2’. By the end of 2014 three aircraft, including the two in Spain, had been completed and a fourth underway with Northrop Grumman IDS in Brisbane.
Changing mindset
It is worth noting that the KC-30A is currently supporting combat operations in Iraq, whilst the program is officially still a Project of Concern.
Although the journey so far has been frustrating for all concerned, the performance and maturity of the aircraft is now starting to change the mindset within the ADF.
No.33 Squadron had to deploy aircraft and personnel to Darwin twice during 2014, due to urgent runway repairs required at Amberley as a result of KC-30A operations. AIRCDRE McDonald credits these deployments with accelerating development and actually paving the way for the Middle East deployment.
“It helped us resolve a lot of issues because we had to face the issues as if we were in a deployed environment and work out how we were going to approach and sustain it, and learn that you can operate this aircraft for extended periods of times away from a maintenance base,” he noted.
“That has been a game changer, and then they had to do it a second time so they got the chance to go back over the lessons they’d learnt. That is why when we have gone to the Middle East they’ve come out off the blocks fast and been able to provide a capability within days of getting over there.”
During the Pitch Black exercise last August, Defence Minister David Johnston told journalists that he hoped the KC-30A would soon be removed from the Projects of Concern list (an event which had still not happened by the time this article was written, in early December) and hinted that two more aircraft might be acquired as part of the Defence White Paper process.
Time will tell, but Air Commodore McDonald already considers that the aircraft has ‘turned the corner’.
“It is a fantastic capability, but people quickly gloss over the complexity associated with the engineering; sticking a 16-metre boom on the back of it, asking it to fly within a centimetre of another aircraft and then offload over 4,000 litres of fuel a minute.”
“We have got a very, very capable piece of equipment that will serve us very well into the future. It won’t come without challenges, and we’ve already a lot of those, but the team is ready for any challenges which may result.”