A330 MRTT Completes Automatic Refuelling Tests With F-15 | Aviation

The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) will become the first Air Force in the world to have a boom automatic refuelling capability with all of its receivers.

In 2020, an Airbus MRTT test aircraft carried out the world’s first ever fully automatic refuelling contacts during a flight test campaign over the Atlantic Ocean, that involved an Airbus 310 MRTT test aircraft equipped with the Airbus A3R solution (that equips the A330 MRTT) and a Portuguese Air Force F-16 jet acting as a receiver. In July 2022, the A330 MRTT became the world’s first tanker certified for automatic air-to-air refuelling operations in daylight conditions with F-16s and A330 MRTTs as receivers.

Today Airbus announced the successful completion of a testing campaign with the Airbus A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) and F-15 fighter of the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF), ahead of its certification in the first half of 2024.

The testing campaign took place over the course of three weeks in August and included more than 500 automated wet and dry contacts with the air force’s full fleet of receiver aircraft, including the F-15SG aircraft, variant based on the standard F-15E, and embedding some enhancements: the APG-63(V)3 AESA radar, a Sniper XR EO/laser targeting pod and the AAS-43 Tiger Eyes IRST (infrared search-and-track system), the ALQ-135M system, an NVG-compatible cockpit, the JHMCS (Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System) and the ability to drop a wide array of weapons, including the AIM-9X Sidewinder, the AIM-120C AMRAAM, the AGM-154 JSOW (Joint Stand Off Weapon), the SDB (Small Diameter Bomb).

“The A330 MRTT has made the future of air-to-air refuelling a reality as a result of the joint efforts of Airbus and the Republic of Air Force,” said Jean-Brice Dumont, Head of Military Air Systems at Airbus Defence and Space in a public release. “This…

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