The Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) is considering a range of new-build aircraft and second hand conversions to meet its outstanding requirement for up to ten additional air-to-air refueling tankers.
The aircraft are needed to support the RSAF's growing fleet of McDonnell Douglas F-15 and Panavia Tornado fighters and strike aircraft. The tankers will be equipped accordingly, with an under fuselage boom and under wing hose drum units (HDUs), for probe-and-drogue refueling.
Saudi Arabia's eight existing Boeing KE-6A tankers are equipped only with a boom and are used mainly to support the RSAF's five E-3A airborne early-warning and control (AWACS) aircraft. A similar number of HSD-equipped RSAF Lockheed KC-130Hs are considered too small and slow.
Aircraft being offered to Saudi Arabia include the McDonnell Douglas KMD-11, a modified version of the KDC-10, Boeing's proposed new 767 tanker/transport and a tanker/freighter conversion of the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar.
The KMD-11 incorporates the USAF KC-10A Extender's fly-by-wire high-speed boom, modular belly-fuel-tanks and a new remote air-refueling operator station (RARO), equipped with high-resolution camera and night imager.
The RARO was developed for the Dutch air force's two modified KDC-10s and avoids any major modifications to the aft structure and pressure vessel. The aircraft is based on a modified version of the commercial passenger DC-10-30.
At the same time, Boeing is looking for a launch customer for its 767 tanker/transport and hopes to sell the aircraft to the RSAF as part of a proposed E-767 AWACS package.
A cheaper alternative, being promoted by Lockheed Martin and Marshall Aerospace of the UK, is the conversion of some or all of Saudi Arabian Airlines' 17 L-011-200s into freighters and tankers. The aircraft, which are due to replaced by the Boeing 777, are understood to be in poor condition and in need of extensive refurbishment.
Source: Flight International
