AUSTRALIAN AVIATION EXPRESS ISSUE 244, 20 OCTOBER 2008
* DELAYS FOR RAAF TANKERS: The Defence Materiel Organisation’s MRTT Project Team has revealed exclusively to Australian Aviation that the first of the RAAF’s new Airbus A330-based KC-30 tankers will be delivered up to 10 months later than planned.
Originally scheduled for a February 2009 delivery, the first aircraft - which is being converted to tanker configuration by EADS inSpain - is now not expected to be handed over to Amberley based 33SQN until late in the “fourth quarter of next year”. The setback has been attributed to a five month delay in phase one of the aircraft’s extensive structural modification process which EADS has been unable to make up, and a further delay to the phase two systems installation process currently underway.
These have flowed on to a postponement to the start of the comprehensive ground and flight test, and certification processes. As a result of the delays, the RAAF will compress the aircraft’s acceptance and operational build up process, with IOC (initial operational capability) to be pushed back by about six months to mid 2010, while full operational capability (FOC) remains on track for mid 2011. The second aircraft currently undergoing modification at Qantas Engineering in Brisbane is expected to be completed in July next year, and the ADF and EADS are looking at possibly rolling it into the certification program before it is handed over in early 2009. Aircraft three, four and five are expected to follow at roughly six month intervals until FOC.
The MRTT project team also revealed that the RAAF tankers will now be known as KC-30As instead of the previous KC-30B designation, as the USAF will designate its next tanker as the KC-45A.