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Old 20th Feb 2007, 18:02
  #101 (permalink)  
BEagle
 
Join Date: May 1999
Location: Quite near 'An aerodrome somewhere in England'
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D-IFFers, the A400M will also have a 'man's way of refuelling' (probe) rather than the girl-flaps thing the USAF still uses....

As will MRA4 and any other RAF jet equipped for AAR, such as Sentinel....?? Only the E-3D has hermaphrodite AAR systems.

But it wouldn't be unreasonable to have a boom for Uncle Spam (and his customers') aircraft, so that the RAF could support NATO mates who fly F-16s, for example.

As for the World's only 21st Century tanker currently in service, the superb Airbus A310MRTT has an AAR gallery fed by 3 hydraulically driven DC Carter fuel pumps located in the centre tank; internal transfer systems ensure that the centre tank is kept supplied with fuel. Normally the left pod is fed by the left half of this AAR gallery, fed by a Blue System pump and the right pod is fed by the right half, fed by a Yellow System pump. If either Blue or Yellow pumps fail, a Green System pump can take over the supply to the failed side. How this is done is currently being slightly modified, to ensure that both halves of the gallery will always maintain independence of supply. This is to ensure that full supply pressure to the pods should be maintained in the event of a single failure.

The A310MRTT does not have a fuel dump system. Although it wouldn't be too difficult to modify the pods to incorporate a 'dump to atmosphere' mode with a suitable T-piece and actuator system based on the 901 pod's 'ground refuel' system, should there prove to be a need.
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