Airbus A330 MRTT Certificated for Automatic Aerial Refueling

Wednesday, July 20, 2022 at 04:29 PM ET

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The Airbus A330 MRTT has become the world’s first certificated tanker capable of conducting automatic air-to-air refueling in daylight operations after a successful campaign in collaboration with the Republic of Singapore Air Force. [Courtesy: Airbus]

Key Takeaways:

Airbus' A330 MRTT has become the world's first tanker aircraft to be certificated for automatic air-to-air refueling (A3R) boom operations during daylight.
The A3R system reduces the workload for air refueling operators and optimizes fuel transfers without requiring modifications to receiving aircraft.
Building on this, Airbus is developing a fully autonomous air-to-air refueling (A4R) capability that would eliminate the need for crew monitoring fuel transfers.
Flight tests for the A4R system are planned for 2023, aiming to reduce crew fatigue, improve safety, and enable future unmanned air-to-air refueling operations.

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Airbus’ A330 MRTT (Multi Role Tanker Transport) has been certificated to conduct automatic air-to-air refueling (A3R) boom operations during daylight, making it the first tanker in the world with the designation, according to the aircraft manufacturer.

The Spanish National Institute for Aerospace Technology (INTA) certificated the A3R system following a collaboration with the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF), Airbus announced Tuesday at the U.K.’s Farnborough International Airshow.