STEWART PENNEY / LONDON
AirTanker, one of two teams bidding in the UK's Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft competition, is to conduct proximity trials with an Airbus A330.
Tim MacMahon, AirTanker business development director, says the consortium - comprising EADS, Cobham, Rolls-Royce and Thales - has wanted to do proximity trials for some time as a "risk reduction exercise". During the trials a receiver aircraft will fly behind the A330 in the position to take fuel while measurements are taken, and receiver aircraft handling assessed.
MacMahon says aircraft availability has delayed the trials until now, but adds that AirTanker has some subjective data from flying a Dassault Rafale and German Panavia Tornados close behind an A330.
The trials will be done by UK research company Qinetiq, part of AirTanker's team, at its Boscombe Down trials airfield in southern England.
Rival Tanker & Transport Service Company (TTSC) completed proximity trials with its planned Boeing 767 platform at the US Navy's Patuxent River test centre in 2000.
AirTanker now also acknowledges that it has offered the MoDused aircraft and a mix of new and old aircraft, as well as its original new aircraft proposal. TTSC's bid is based around ex-British Airways 767s.
Source: Flight International
