Tankers: A Contact Sport

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Tankers: A Contact Sport
Aviation Week's DTI | Amy Butler | December 11, 2007

The Northrop Grumman/EADS North America team is clearly happy to have something new to talk about with regard to its Airbus A330-based tanker. The team made the first dry contact with the new EADS-designed boom during a Dec. 10 flight test.

The first photo (both of which are from EADS) below shows the F-16 aircraft in receiver position lining up behind the A310 test platform. And, the second photo shows a close up of the contact.

Paul Meyer, Northrop Grumman's KC-30 vice president, says the purpose of the test was to validate the design of the boom and its hoist and control system. Operators also used the remote workstation onboard the aircraft to control the boom. The hoist caused some earlier problems for the team.

Yet, the team is mum on future milestones. A date to pass fuel in midair through the boom on the A310 to a receiver hasn't been announced (fuel has been passed on the ground). Nor has a target date been acknowledged for passing gas through the A330-based Australian Multi-Role Tanker Transport to a receiver aircraft. Those are to come.

One thing Meyer isn't quiet about is his apparent frustration with the Air Force's decision for a winner-take-all downselect instead of a split buy between the Airbus- and Boeing 767-based designs. He had a handful of reasons why the split-buy strategy makes sense.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,158011,00.html