Commander Air Mobility Group, Air Commodore Warren McDonald has predicted that the RAAF’s Airbus KC-30A multi-role tanker transport will achieve Final Operating Capability at the end of the year.
AIRCDRE McDonald’s comments came during the trade show at Avalon and only days before the tanker was removed from the Australian government’s Projects of Concern list.
Although the project is significantly late, its ongoing operational use in the probe and drogue air to air refuelling role as part of Operation Okra has seen it become the tanker of choice RAAF Super Hornets and other coalition fighters in theatre.
“The KC-30A is a step change in capability for our Air Force,” he said. “But we should have taken it out of transition and put it into operations a bit earlier. There are times when you have to step out front and make it happen.”
Operational test and evaluation of the aircraft’s fly by wire Aerial Refuelling Boom System (ARBS) is due to be carried out through 2015, ahead of FOC later in the year.
AIRCDRE McDonald said that an airworthiness board meeting in March was expected to issue a special flight permit which will allow RAAF operational clearance of the boom to begin.
Initial focus will be on clearance of the KC-30A as a receiver, followed by trials with the RAAFs Boeing E-7A Wedgetail AEW&C platform. Testing will also be carried out with the Lockheed Martin F-35A at Edwards Air Force Base in July.
AIRCDRE McDonald also revealed that discussions with the Republic of Singapore Air Force were due to be held in early March, with a view to clearing the boom for refuelling RSAF Boeing F-15SG Eagle and Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Fighting Falcons.
From a marketing perspective, Airbus Defence & Space executive vice president marketing & sales Christian Scherer said that a decision on the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) tanker project was expected shortly.
“The Koreans understand the capability of the aircraft very well,” he noted. “We expect a decision in the next few months.”
Scherer said that the A330-based MRTT has won eight out of 10 tanker competitions in recent years, losing only in the United Sates (to the Boeing KC-46A) and Brazil (IAI 767-300).
This article first appeared in Australian Defence Magazine VOL.23 No.4, April 2015