An Airbus A330 tanker for the first time refueled two fighter jets simultaneously during a flight test sortie.
The tanker, using its left and right under-wing pods, transferred more than 25,000 pounds of fuel to two NATO F/A-18 fighters, according to EADS, the parent company of Airbus.
The refueling was done by the Royal Australian Air Force.
The Australian tanker is nearly identical in configuration, EADs said, to the Northrop Grumman KC-45 Airbus tanker being offered to the U.S. Air Force to replace aerial refuelers. The tanker uses a mix of boom and pod refueling technologies.
The first of five tankers to go to Australia will be delivered in mid 2010, EADS said. Twenty-eight A330 tankers have been ordered to date.
8 Comments
Good by Boeing……
Airbus Wins!
but do they have the support facilities for this huge aircraft
Boeing has already been doing this with the 767 tanker airframe sold to Italy and Japan. http://bit.ly/6KEo0r
That’s nice… only problem, the U.S. Air Force doesn’t use pods to refuel their aircraft… they only use the Boom… by the way Boeing 767 Tanker also refuels multiple aircraft at once…
At what point does the tail fall off?
Oh, please. Probe & Drogue refueling of more than 1 aircraft at once has been around for eons with the KC-135 & KC-130. This is no great feat.
not like its is something to be really proud of but I once had 2 at the same time.