Page 30 - Australian Defence Mag March 2020

30 DEFENCE BUSINESS KC-30A
MARCH 2020 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
KC-30A’s ‘fly by wire’ Advanced Refuelling Boom System (ARBS) became fully operational in 2017.
Sufficient numbers of trained and proficient AROs are of course critical in the support of the growing F-35A force as it proceeds to Final Operational Capability (FOC) in 2023.
“I would suggest that to have a fully qualified, proficient boomer is comparable to having a trained, type-rated pilot,” explained GPCAPT Pesce. “We have been working hard but the workforce is not yet at its mature level, so we are tracking some risks with ensuring that we have the workforce ready.”
GOVERNMENT TRANSPORT COMMUNICATION
The sixth KC-30A was delivered in 2018 in essentially the same configuration as the previous aircraft, however while the seventh is externally similar, it is fitted with a VIP cabin in the forward section of the aircraft.
Following conversion to KC-30A/MRTT configuration by Airbus Defence and Space at Getafe, outside
Madrid, the aircraft was flown to Hamburg
to have the bespoke VIP interior installed by
terms of load sheet calculation etc), three pilots and two Net- work Technicians to look after the secure comms systems.
“We did four trips to the end of 2019 and the feedback we have received from the Prime Minister’s Office was very positive. The principals really like the aircraft, it is really very comfortable, but the thing they like the most is the ability to continue government business during the flight,” GPCAPT Pesce said.
CREWING
The division of VIP tasking between 33 Sqn at Amberley and 34 Sqn in Canberra has been made simpler from a crewing perspective with the creation of a nucleus of cross-trained cabin attendants. This allows the KC-30A to deploy on long- range missions, taking 10 or 12 cabin attendants, without having an impact on domestic SPA operations. Eventually, attendants will perform their initial training with 33 Sqn, be-
Lufthansa Technik.
The aircraft retains full AAR mission
capability, but it has the additional role of Government Transport Communication (GTC), responsible for the carriage of se- nior politicians and heads of state on long- haul missions. This aircraft supplements the existing Boeing 737-BBJ and Dassault Falcon 7X Special Purpose Aircraft (SPA) based in Canberra but remains with 33 Sqn at Amberley.
“OTHER TECHNOLOGY AIRBUS IS DEVELOPING UNDER ITS ‘SMART TANKER’ CONCEPT IS BEING WATCHED CLOSELY, INCLUDING A NEW ITERATION OF THE AIRCRAFT’S MISSION PLANNING SYSTEM (MPS).”
fore six months of operational training on the KC-30A – including the GTC role – be- fore a potential posting to 34 Sqn.
“In a mature state we will have a core of crew attendants at 34 Sqn who are trained on all three platforms and 33 Sqn will es- sentially be the feeder squadron for crew attendants into 34 Sqn,” GPCAPT Pesce explained to ADM.
Control of the GTC-configured KC- 30A is split between the VIP Operations (VIPOPS) tasking cell and the Air Mobil- ity Control Centre (AMCC), but both ele- ments are in turn controlled from the same
“The 7th aircraft was delivered in the middle of last year. It then underwent a layup to install the LAIRM (Northrop Grum- man Large Aircraft Infra-Red Countermeasures) system, a range of crypto modifications and then an exhaustive program of test and evaluation and verification activities, before entering service in the 3rd quarter of 2019,” GPCAPT Pesce said.
“We have gone to great lengths to make sure that we have an airframe that can fulfil both the extant MRTT missions – AAR, Air Logistics Support etc – and then we’ve essentially added the GTC role to that. Other than the airframe being slightly heavi- er, which does reduce fuel upload but not in an operationally significant way, and the number of passenger seats are reduced due to the VIP fit, there are really no differences. We essentially have an airframe which is really quite versatile.”
While the rear half of the cabin is a standard A330/KC- 30A economy class seating configuration, moving forward there is an area in business class configuration, with 28 Qa- ntas ‘SkyBed’ seats. Then further forward again there are conferencing facilities (tables with lounge style seating either side), followed by a lounge area with 12 fully flat reclining seats. Further forward still is the teleconferencing facility, which is an executive boardroom with video conferencing and secure communications facilities and seating for support staff. Forward of that area again is the accommodation for the principal guests, including sleeping areas and finally the VIP bathroom facilities.
For GTC missions the crew comprises 9-10 cabin atten- dants, two AROs (to provide redundancy on long missions, in
desk at Headquarters Joint Operations Command.
“Because the two missions are so different, the challenge is making sure we can, for example, flexibly deploy it to a major exercise supporting the F-35A in its tanker role and then redeploy it to the GTC mission,” GPCAPT Pesce added. “The complexity lies in making sure that we have the right
crew to man a very different mission set.”
RECEIVER CLEARANCES
As the lead MRTT customer, the RAAF has been at the forefront of achieving receiver clearances from the time the aircraft entered service in 2011 - initially with the probe and drogue method and later, as the ARBS software issues were sorted out, with the boom method.
Priority was initially given to RAAF receivers but the Okra deployment in September 2014 soon saw this extended to coalition partners such as the UK, the US and France as a contingency measure.
Not all clearance programmes ran smoothly however, par- ticularly with the boom and some are ongoing, as fixes and work arounds are identified and implemented. One such ex- ample is the F-15 Eagle which, because of the location of its receptacle on the shoulder of the aircraft, has not yet been cleared by the RAAF.
Saudi Arabia is an F-15 operator and early MRTT cus- tomer and has been conducting AAR operations for several years. However, RAAF requirements would appear to be more stringent and because of the disturbed airflow around