EADS North America KC-45 tanker program moves forward

EADS North Amer­i­ca KC-45 tanker pro­gram moves for­ward with com­ple­tion of A330 MRTT mil­i­tary certification

Arling­ton, Vir­ginia — In prepa­ra­tion for deliv­ery to the Roy­al Aus­tralian Air Force, the Air­bus Mil­i­tary A330 Mul­ti Role Tanker Trans­port (MRTT) — which is being offered to the U.S. Air Force as the EADS North Amer­i­ca KC-45 — has obtained gov­ern­ment cer­ti­fi­ca­tion to oper­ate as a mil­i­tary aer­i­al refu­el­ing tanker.

A330 MRTT
Source: EADS

As part of the cer­ti­fi­ca­tion process, one mil­lion pounds of fuel were trans­ferred through more than 1,300 con­tacts with a wide range of com­bat air­craft, using both the advanced aer­i­al refu­el­ing boom and hose-and-drogue sys­tems offered on the KC-45

The EADS North Amer­i­ca KC-45 is the only mod­ern tanker/transport in the U.S. tanker com­pe­ti­tion that is fly­ing today, cer­ti­fied for mil­i­tary oper­a­tions and meets U.S. Air Force refu­el­ing require­ments. The KC-45 con­fig­u­ra­tion is 95% com­mon with the A330 MRTT, and will be built in the U.S. by 48,000 Americans. 

The A330 MRTT is in pro­duc­tion or flight test for four U.S. allies, with two air­craft due for deliv­ery to its first cus­tomer, the Roy­al Aus­tralian Air Force (RAAF), before the end of the year. 

“Gov­ern­ment cer­ti­fi­ca­tion of the A330 MRTT as a ful­ly capa­ble mil­i­tary tanker is impor­tant evi­dence that our tanker is real and ready now,” said Ralph Cros­by, EADS North Amer­i­ca Chair­man. “We’re proud to offer America’s men and women in uni­form a proven, more capa­ble air­craft, not an untest­ed con­cept aircraft.” 

“Our tanker air­craft have won every head-to-head com­pe­ti­tion with Boe­ing KC-767 tankers — includ­ing the 2008 U.S. Air Force com­pe­ti­tion,” he added. 

The KC-45’s advanced refu­el­ing sys­tems have been demon­strat­ed and qual­i­fied in a full range of oper­a­tional con­di­tions, with receivers such as F‑16 and F/A‑18 fight­ers, E‑3 AWACS, and oth­er A330 MRTTs. 

The KC-45’s all-elec­tric, fly-by-wire Aer­i­al Refu­el­ing Boom Sys­tem (ARBS) deliv­ers fuel at up to 1,200 gal­lons per minute — as recent­ly demon­strat­ed in flight — meet­ing a key require­ment for the U.S. Air Force’s new tanker. Its all-dig­i­tal hose-and-drogue refu­el­ing pods are the most mod­ern in ser­vice today, and the only ones with demon­strat­ed capa­bil­i­ties on the tanker plat­form offered to the Air Force. 

The KC-45 is the only tanker in the Air Force com­pe­ti­tion that meets both these manda­to­ry refu­el­ing requirements. 

To learn more about the KC-45, vis­it www.kc-45now.com.

About EADS North America

EADS North Amer­i­ca is the North Amer­i­can oper­a­tion of EADS, a glob­al leader in aero­space, defense and relat­ed ser­vices. As a leader in all sec­tors of defense and home­land secu­ri­ty, EADS North Amer­i­ca and its par­ent com­pa­ny, EADS, con­tribute over $11 bil­lion to the U.S. econ­o­my annu­al­ly and sup­port more than 200,000 Amer­i­can jobs through its net­work of sup­pli­ers and ser­vices. Oper­at­ing in 17 states, EADS North Amer­i­ca offers a broad array of advanced solu­tions to its cus­tomers in the com­mer­cial, home­land secu­ri­ty, aero­space and defense markets. 

Source:
EADS North America 

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