The Royal Australian Air Force’s (RAAF) fleet of Airbus Defence & Space A330 multirole tanker transports (MRTT), which it designates as KC-30As, have emerged as one of the Asia-Pacific’s most advanced tanker capabilities.
A large element of this success is due to a collaborative training arrangement with CAE, which sees the company manage a full training centre on the grounds of RAAF Amberley near Brisbane, Queensland. In addition to furnishing a combination of training devices comprising a full flight simulator, integrated procedures trainer, and an air refuelling officer (ARO) part task trainer, it also provides personnel with decades of tanker experience.
While there were early challenges with Australia’s KC-30A programme, mainly related to the type’s fly-by-wire refuelling boom, its achievements in RAAF service have been impressive. The aircraft achieved initial operating capability in 2013, and Wg Cdr Brent Taylor, who commands the service’s 33 Sqn, expects the current five-aircraft fleet to receive final operating capability clearance within “months”.
In addition to performing routine peacetime duties at home, which include tanker operations, plus troop and cargo transport, the aircraft have served in a number of international exercises. A broad range of coalition aircraft types have been cleared for refuelling either via the centreline boom or the aircraft’s two under-wing hose-and-drogue pods. These include the Boeing F/A-18 “classic” Hornet and F/A-18F Super Hornet in RAAF service, but also the Lockheed Martin F-16, and other fighters. The aircraft has also been cleared for larger types such as the Boeing B-1B, C-17 and Australia's 737-based E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning and control system platform.
The KC-30A’s most notable contribution has been in the Middle East, where the RAAF says it is the tanker of choice in coalition efforts against Islamic State militants. Australia typically has one KC-30A on duty in the troubled region, and all five of its tankers have rotated through the Middle East in recent years. The RAAF says its KC-30As have offloaded nearly 70 million pounds of fuel during these deployments.
“There is a great integrated team approach with CAE and the squadron,” says Taylor. While he has previously observed “gaps” between training and operational programmes during his RAAF career, he would like to “dissolve this completely” and “have CAE integrated as part of our training solution and our standards.”
At the core of CAE’s training curriculum is a team of expert instructors. While they come from a range of backgrounds, including one former RAAF Super Hornet pilot, their resumes tend to include long stints involving tankers. Some formerly served in the US Air Force’s Boeing KC-135 and KC-10 communities.
HOW TO TOP-UP AN A-10
The instructors casually rattle off arcane details of how the bow wave produced by a Lockheed C-5 strategic transport can give a push to a KC-135, or the challenge of refuelling a slow-moving A-10: the trick is to fly a shallow descent while the ground-attack type takes on fuel. Another describes how former KC-135 AROs often have stiff necks owing to long hours lying on their stomachs, chins resting on a crutch-like strut, while they refuel incoming jets. He also describes how cold the KC-135’s refuelling compartment is, with just the aircraft skin and some insulation between the ARO and the airstream at 25,000ft. This is in contrast with the operator station of the KC-30A, with a comfortable chair from which crew orchestrate refuelling through a console reminiscent of an arcade game.
“The KC-135 was a great platform and really performed its mission well, but it was designed in the Cold War as a military aircraft,” the instructor says. “The KC-30A is major improvement.”
The training centre’s full motion simulator (FMS) is rated at ICAO Level D, the highest possible for a simulator, says CAE. It has six ‘degree of freedom’ motion and a 220° x 70° field of view. For all practical purposes, the cockpit is identical to that of an A330 airliner. One notable difference is on the overhead panel, where the fuel section features not just switches and indicators related to the jet’s fuel tanks and pumps, but additional indicators for its air-to-air refuelling gear. The FMS normally includes systems related to the aircraft’s countermeasures system, but owing to the sensitive nature of such equipment this was removed prior to FlightGlobal’s visit.
Activating the simulator’s full motion capability during the visit, an instructor demonstrated the KC-30A’s performance characteristics under varied control laws. Use of the FMS has helped the RAAF to reduce the number of KC-30A training flights a new pilot needs for certification from six or more to just three, he notes.
Taylor says it would be desirable to bring this down further, but that young pilots transitioning from trainers such as the Pilatus PC-7 need to get a feel for landing something as big as the KC-30A. Nonetheless, he says the RAAF is very happy with the training opportunities offered by the FMS, as it reduces the hours spent airborne for training purposes, and frees up assets for other operations.
Prior to stepping into the FMS, flight crew learn procedures in the integrated procedures trainer (IPT). This device resembles the KC-30A’s cockpit, but is fixed in place and is comprised of touch screens. While excellent for learning procedures, the IPT lacks the full, real-world feel of the FMS. The sidestick controller, for example, is no more than a graphical representation on a screen. Trainees can manipulate it with their fingertips, but it lacks the same real-world feeling as the FMS or a real aircraft.
TRAINING AERIAL REFUELLING OFFICERS
Given the centrality of the KC-30A’s air-to-air refuelling mission, arguably the most important element of the training centre is the ARO part task trainer (PTT). This stationary device is identical to the twin-seat refuelling console found at the back of the tanker’s cockpit. Facing backwards, AROs wear 3D glasses to view a large panel image of the space behind and below the aircraft. A panel indicates a schedule of incoming jets and how much fuel each will take on. The right-hand sidestick controller flies the boom; the left-hand controller extends and retracts the refuelling tube itself.
FlightGlobal was able to guide the boom around the canopy of an incoming Lockheed F-35, and easily extend the probe into the jet’s refuelling receptacle. Once a receiver starts refuelling the ARO can ease off the controls and simply monitor the fuel transfer. If too much stick input is applied during the refuelling, there is a shaker alert. The instructor adds that a steady course at 275kt (508km/h) and 25,000ft is the "sweet spot" for refuelling operations. Speeds slightly higher are used for fighters, and slightly lower for larger jets.
To add realism to the training, CAE has networked the FMS and PTT together, allowing pilots and AROs to more realistically simulate an air-to-air refuelling mission. The only difference is that on the actual aircraft flight crew and AROs are all in the cockpit, allowing verbal communication if necessary. In the training centre, the FMS and PTT are in separate rooms.
“The turnkey delivery requirements here are very important,” says Ian Bell, vice-president and general manager of CAE in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East. “As defence forces become more stretched globally, there is a requirement for service personnel at the frontline. They are looking more at offloading support services and training areas to industry.”
So far, only RAAF personnel have gone through CAE’s training curriculum at the Amberley training facility. There will be greater demand for trained crew as 33 Sqn accepts its sixth KC-30A in the second half of 2017, and its seventh in late 2018 or early 2019. Both are being adapted from previous commercial life with Qantas.
The relatively small size of even this expanded fleet means that a second FMS is unlikely to be installed in Amberley. CAE says that it could instead accommodate modest fleet growth simply by extending the centre’s operational hours.
CAE, however, sees a broader opportunity for A330 MRTT training in the region. Flight Fleets Analyzer shows that Singapore has six examples on order, with its first two now being converted. South Korea also has an order for four. A longer-term opportunity could be India, which has twice selected the A330 MRTT for a tanker requirement, but backed away both times. Industry players expect this requirement to re-emerge at some point.
Bell says that CAE is eager to associate itself with major aircraft programmes, and work with air forces as a tightly integrated training partner.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
