Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC
The US Air Force may retrofit a wing-mounted hose-and-drogue aerial refuelling system, made by UK-based Flight Refuelling, on its 24 Lockheed Martin MC-130H Combat Talon II special operations aircraft.
The US Department of Defense (DoD) says US special operations aviation forces do not have enough refuelling support to meet mission requirements. The improvement envisioned for the MC-130H would help meet this shortfall, says the DoD.
The project is one of 36 foreign comparative testing (FCT) programmes receiving fiscal year 1999 funding. The FCT effort evaluates foreign off-the-shelf items to determine whether they can satisfy US military requirements, to avoid developing costly new weapons and to reduce the time needed to field the new equipment.
Another FCT project involves evaluation by the US Navy of a molecular-sieve oxygen generating system (MSOGS) manufactured by the UK's Normalair-Garrett as an alternative to a Litton MSOGS now installed on the Grumman F-14 and Boeing AV-8B, F/A-18 and T-45.
Source: Flight International
