Επιτυχής στην πρώτη του δοκιμή το σύστημα automatic air-to-air refuelling (A3R) της Airbus.
Τον πρώτο ανεφοδιασμό στον αέρα του automatic air-to-air refuelling (A3R) συστήματος ανακοίνωσε η Airbus. Πιο συγκεκριμένα ιπτάμενο τάνκερ εκτέλεσε επιχείρηση A3R ανεφοδιάζοντας ένα μαχητικό F-16 της αεροπορίας της Πορτογαλίας.
Το εγχείρημα έλαβε μέρος πάνω από τον Ατλαντικό Ωκεανό και η Airbus πέτυχε τον πρώτο A3R ανεφοδιασμό στον αέρα με σύστημα boom.
Το σύστημα A3R που πρόκειται να εγκατασταθεί στα A330 MRTT ιπτάμενα τάνκερ, ολοκλήρωσε 45 ώρες ιπτάμενων δοκιμών και 120 στεγνών επαφών σε όλο το φάσμα των εναέριων αποστολών ανεφοδιασμού.
Η εξέλιξη αυτή ανοίγει πλέον τον δρόμο για την πιστοποίηση του συστήματος το 2021.
Airbus has announced that a tanker aircraft equipped with its automatic air-to-air refuelling (A3R) system successfully performed A3R operation with an F-16 fighter.
“Airbus has achieved the first ever fully automatic air-to-air refuelling (A3R) operation with a boom system. The flight test campaign, conducted earlier in the year over the Atlantic Ocean, involved an Airbus tanker test aircraft equipped with the Airbus A3R solution, with an F-16 fighter aircraft of the Portuguese Air Force acting as a receiver,” the company said Friday.
This milestone is part of the industrialisation phase of A3R systems ahead of its implementation in the A330 MRTT tanker development, the company added.
The campaign achieved a total of 45 flight test hours and 120 dry contacts with the A3R system, covering the whole aerial refuelling envelope, as the F-16 and MRTT consolidate the maturity and capabilities of the development at this stage.
The certification phase will start in 2021.
The A3R system requires no additional equipment on the receiver aircraft and is intended to reduce air refuelling operator (ARO) workload, improve safety and optimise the rate of air-to-air refuelling transfer in operational conditions, helping maximise aerial superiority. The goal for the A3R system is to develop technologies that will reach fully autonomous capabilities.
Once the system is activated by the ARO, the A3R flies the boom automatically and keeps the alignment between the boom tip and the receiver receptacle with an accuracy of a couple of centimeters; the proper alignment and the receiver stability is checked in real-time to keep a safe distance between the boom and the receiver and also to determine the optimum moment to extend the telescopic beam to achieve the connection with the receiver.
At this point, the fuel transfer is initiated to fill up the receiver aircraft and once completed and the disconnection is commanded, the boom is cleared away from the receiver by retracting the telescopic beam and flying the boom away to keep a safe separation distance. During this process, the ARO simply monitors the operation.
