GIATT and cessnapete,
Clearly, neither of you understand the process of Test & Evaluation (T&E) and the need to explore the flight envelope of reciever aircraft i.e. Typhoon, Tornado and, the C-130J, behind the FSTA (Voyager).
Voyager will require the installation of test instrumentation prior to the air to air refuelling test-points; hence, the delivery to Boscombe to carry out that process.
Those series of tests should be complete by mid October/November and that Voyager will then be put into service at Brize Norton. The flying-reports for the reciever aircraft will then be analysed and given the neccessary Release to Service for operational use.
The reasons for doing so are quite simple... the first time that a Squadron Typhoon pilot plugs his expensive aeroplane into the refuelling basket of Voyager isn't the time or the place to discover a major problem with the transfer of fuel... especially if the jet is en-route to Libya or the Falkland Islands and that there's nowhere else to go!
If the said pilot then had to ditch his aeroplane into the sea, how would you then feel about how the Government spent your taxes without first ensuring that the refuelling system actually works?
Your comparison of the commissioning of large industrial plant to the flight testing of multi billion dollar aircraft systems doesn't make any sense... whatsoever!
TCF