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Overview: Air Assets deployed against ISIS
As much as it looks like a space ship on its way to warp speed, this is still a B-1B Lancer, better known as the Bone. (Image © Elmer van Hest) Feeding of wide-spread instability in Iraq after the...
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New Brazilian tanker is getting close
Test flight with the new Boeing 767-300ER MMTT tanker/cargo aircraft converted by IAI (Image © Israeli Aerospace Industries) The new tanker aircraft ordered by the Brazilian Air Force this Spring, is...
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Photo Essay: The RAAF wages war against ISIS
A RAAF F/A-18F Super Hornet makes contact with the fuel hose of a RAAF KC-30A above a city in Iraq, during the first combat mission of the F/A-18F. During its mission the tanker (an Airbus A330 MRTT)...
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France orders 12 Airbus A330 MRTT
The French Ministry of Defence has finally ordered 12 A330 MRTT air-to-air refuelling aircraft for the Armée de l’air in a long awaited contract with Airbus Defence and Space, announced on Thursday 20...
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No Korean tanker decision this year
The decision on which manufacturer may deliver four in-flight refuelling aircraft to the Republic of Korea Air Force (RoKAF) will not be taken this year, according to South Korean media including The...
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Italian airlift and tankers join European Air Transport
Italy became the seventh nation to join the European Air Transport Command on 5 December 2014. The EATC is a pool of airlift and air tankers that makes it possible for the partners to easily use...
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‘Four A330 MRTT to form European tanker fleet’
Four Airbus A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft are to form the future shared European fleet of tanker and transport aircraft. The number of four is mentioned in a letter sent to Dutch...
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Brazilian Navy Grumman C-1 Traders will be KC-2 air tankers
The Brazilian Naval Aviation (Aviação Naval Brasileira) is upgrading its four Grumman C-1A Trader aircraft to KC-2 standard. Earlier Marsh Aviation was reported to be the sole upgrader, but Israeli...
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First flight: Boeing KC-46 makes curtain call
The curtains were about to close on 2014, but in the end Boeing did on Sunday 28 December what it commited to earlier this year. From the Boeing Everett facility at Paine Field near Seattle, the first...
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Russia buys large IL-96 tankers
The Russian Ministry of Defence announced on 8 January 2015 that it ordered the state-owned United Aircraft Corporation to produce two four-engine IL-96-400TZ tankers. The order means a small boost for...
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Second ops base for French tankers in African fight
The French forces in Central Africa have a fully functional second airbase at their disposal. As confirmed earlier this week by the French Ministry of Defence, the first big Boeing C135R landed at...
View ArticlePRESS PLAY: Very cool AirTanker air-to-air movie
AirTanker, the public private partnership that in 2008 took on the challenge of delivering, supporting and maintaining the future transport and air-to-air refuelling (AAR) operational capability for...
View ArticleProduction started on IL-78 tanker for Russian Air Force
Aviastar SP in Ulyanovsk started manufacturing the first development model of the new Russian Air Force tanker aircraft Il-78M-90A, based on the Ilyushin desing of the modernised airlifter IL-76-MD-90....
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The real EART hour is approaching
Forget switching off some lights, the real EART hour is approaching! For the second year in a row several European nations are scrambling their military in-flight refuelling assets to show what the...
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Tanker issue: “KC-46 is due to be delayed by another year”
The new tanker project of the US Air Force is quite likely to be hit by at least another year of delays, judging by a fresh report from the US Government Accountability Office (GAO). According to the...
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Gates open for the Flying Gas Station of South Korea
South Korea has officially entered the beginning of the end of the selection process of an in-flight refuelling aircraft for its Republic of Korea Air Force. Long due and delayed many times, Seoul has...
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Press play: Closing the tanker gap with EART
No air power without air-to-air-refueling. But also, no air-to-air refueling without certifications, clearances, bilateral agreements between countries and heaps of paperwork. The infamous European...
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How safe are the civilian air tankers?
How safe is outsourcing of military commodities such as in-flight refueling? And how much worn out are the aircraft in use by civilian operators? Those questions are legit after an Omega Air Refueling...
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First boom contact for RAAF KC-30
A Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Airbus KC-30 (A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport – MRTT) made the first ever air refuelling boom contact in RAAF service on Wednesday 13 May. During a three hour...
View ArticleParamilitarization gives RAF Tristars new chance
The paramilitarization of the US Armed Forces and many of its allies may give six Lockheed L-1011 TriStars retired by the Royal Air Force a new chance. Taken out of service in March 2014, the...
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Arctic Challenge Exercise 2015 kicks off
One of the largest military exercises of Europe kicked off on 25 May 2015. A third of the airspace of Sweden and giant areas – air, sea and ground – of the north of Finland and Norway serve as a...
View ArticleBoeing KC-46 now flies with refueling boom
The Boeing KC-46 Pegasus performed the first flight with its air-to-air refueling boom in place this week, Boeing announced on 3 June. It was the fifth test flight for the aircraft, but the first time...
View ArticleSouth Korea opts for Airbus tankers
South Korea has opted for the Airbus A330 MRTT as the future tanker aircraft for the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF). Seoul announced the decision on Tuesday, ending a close competition between...
View ArticleTwo more Airbus KC-30s for RAAF
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is to welcome two more KC-30A (Airbus A330 MRTT) multi-role tanker aircaft in 2018, the government in Canberra announced on 1 July. The aircraft join five KC-30s...
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Fuel problems for Boeing KC-46
UPDATE 22 JULY 2015: USAF delays low-rate production | Boeing is struggling to get the US Air Force’s next-generation tanker aircraft operational. After initially denying technical issues the US...
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El Al wants Dreamliners, 767s possibly to Air Force
El Al wants to buy up to 28 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, of which 15 will be purchased first and the remainder 13 will be options, Boeing announced on 5 August 2015. The flag carrier of Israel currently...
View ArticleFirst non-US tanker refuels F-35
An Italian Air Force Boeing KC-767A aerial refueling tanker successfully completed its first F-35A boom receiver certification refueling flight last week over over California. The tanker was the first...
View ArticleIndia keeps its IL-76s flying with upgrades
Despite having a fleet of 10 very capable strategic airlifters of the Boeing C-17A Globemaster III type, the Indian government intends to keep its older Ilyushin IL-76s flying well into the future. New...
View ArticleFirst flight ‘real’ KC-46 Pegasus
In reality the KC-46A has yet to fly, we reported on 28 December 2014 as a Boeing 767-200 destined to become the very first KC-46, took off from Boeing Field. That reality came true on Friday 25...
View ArticleAustralian KC-30A refuels F-35
A US Air Force F-35A Lightning II completed the first air-to-air refueling from an Airbus A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) recently in the skies over Edwards Air Force Base, California. The...
View ArticleFirst touchdown of KC-46 at legendary Edwards test field
The US Air Force’s future tanker’s first test aircraft completed its first week of testing on legendary soil Friday 23 October 2015. The KC-46 Pegasus – which first flew ‘for real’ on 25 September this...
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Japan buys KC-46 tanker
The Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) is buying three Boeing KC-46A Pegasus tanker aircraft from the United States. The order was announced by the Ministry of Defense in Tokyo. “The KC-46A is the...
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First operational RAAF KC-30 refuelling of E-7
A Royal Australian Air Force KC-30A (Airbus A330 MRTT) has used its air‑to‑air refuelling boom for the first time on operations while refuelling a RAAF E-7A Wedgetail (Boeing 737) last week during a...
View ArticlePlagued A400M is terrific tanker
The Airbus A400M project has met with considerable setbacks recently, with Germany showing itself an unhappy customer so far and changes being made in the project’s top management. So, if there’s any...
View ArticleFrance: nine Airbus 330 MRTT tankers ordered so far
The French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA) so far has officialy ordered nine of twelve desired Airbus A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport aircraft. Airbus on Tuesday 15 December reported an order for...
View ArticleEATC adds 31 Italian Air Force aircraft
European Air Transport Command (EATC) has added 31 Italian Air Force transport and tanker aircraft to its command, the Italian ministry of Defense announced this week. EATC is based in Eindhoven, the...
View ArticleFirst wet contact for Boeing KC-46
Success for the US Air Force’s future Boeing KC-46A tanker aircraft on Sunday 24 January; the first actual air-to-air refueling became a fact in the skies over Washington state. Following take off from...
View ArticleFirst drogue & hose refueling for Pegasus
The Boeing KC-46, the future US tanker aircraft, successfully refueled an F/A-18 aircraft in flight on 10 February. It marks the first time fuel was transferred using the aircraft’s drogue and hose...
View ArticleSecond KC-46A joins test program
The second fully configured Boeing KC-46A Pegasus flew for the first time this week from Paine Field, joining the other aircraft in the test program. The total number of flight hours in the program has...
View ArticleNew KC-46 tanker suffers from too much stress
The US Air Force’s future tanker aircraft, the Boeing KC-46A Pegagus, suffers from too much stress – both literally and figuratively. While testing fuel transfer to a Boeing C-17A Globemaster III...
View ArticleContract for shared European tankers to be signed in July
A contract for four Airbus A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft shared by the Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg and Poland is to be signed next July during the Farnborough Airshow. That’s the...
View ArticlePress Play | Looking for more tankers in European skies
Where’s a gas station when you need it? That’s exactly what’s going in the minds of a Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) KDC-10 crew as they look for the French C-135 Stratotanker that should be...
View ArticleProduction decision KC-46 delayed
The U.S. Air Force is moving its formal production decision on the KC-46 tanker program—known as Milestone C—from June 2016 to August 2016 to allow additional time to implement the solution to a...
View ArticleNew European tankers one step closer
The Netherlands is ready to purchase two Airbus tanker/transport aircraft with Luxembourg, Dutch Defense minister Hennis Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert announced on Thursday 28 July. The aircraft will be...
View ArticleAirbus flies improved A330 MRTT
Airbus Defence and Space on Monday 3 October reported it has successfully completed the maiden flight of the first new standard A330 MRTT Multi Role Tanker Transport. This model incorporates a number...
View ArticleBuddy refuelling by Airbus A400M
The Airbus A400M airlifter expanded its capabilities as an air-to-air refuelling platform by successfully demonstrating air-to-air refuelling contacts with another A400M, Airbus reported on Monday 14...
View ArticleFresh order for KC-46 Pegasus
The US Air Force on Friday awarded Boeing a 2.1 billion USD contract for 15 KC-46A Pegasus tanker aircraft, spare engines and wing air refueling pod kits. This order is the third low-rate initial...
View ArticleMore countries join European tanker effort
NATO has taken another step towards filling its infmaous European tanker gap, with three more European countries looking to join the European program to acquire new refuelling aircraft. The program...
View ArticleWarp speed for Brazilian freighter/tanker KC-390
Latin America’s most exciting aviation “thing” is moving up to WARP speed. The Embraer KC-390 is looking good, flying pre-operational testing missions with Brazilian Air Force (FAB) Northrop F-5Ms....
View ArticleBoeing: six aircraft now used in KC-46 test program
Boeing now has six aircraft in its KC-46 Pegasus tanker test program, expanding its ability to complete ground and flight-test activities as it moves toward first deliveries to the US Air Force....
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