{"id":8285,"date":"2020-07-07T23:04:54","date_gmt":"2020-07-08T04:04:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planesintheair.com\/?p=8285"},"modified":"2020-07-07T23:04:54","modified_gmt":"2020-07-08T04:04:54","slug":"airbus-transforms-a330s-into-multi-role-tanker-transports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/?p=8285","title":{"rendered":"Airbus Transforms A330’s into Multi Role Tanker Transports"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Having earned its reputation as the new-generation aerial tanker of choice for military services worldwide, Airbus\u2019 A330 Multi Role Tanker Transports (MRTT’s) are now being outfitted for their multi-mission duties in an optimised industrial process \u2013 enabling five aircraft to undergo the conversion every year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The A330 MRTT is based on Airbus\u2019 popular A330 widebody passenger airliner, with the aircraft produced on the company\u2019s commercial airplane final assembly line in Toulouse, France. Once their initial built-up is complete, they are flown to Airbus\u2019 military aircraft facility in Getafe, Spain to be transformed with hardware and systems for their dual roles as an air-to-air refuelling platform and an airlifter for troops and cargo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thousands of new parts integrated <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the conversion, Airbus teams install some 16,000 types of new components and approximately 450 new electrical harnesses (for a total cabling length of more than 50 km.), as well as 6,000 brackets and 1,700 connectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With 42 A330 MRTTs delivered to date, Airbus\u2019 has reduced the end-to-end transformation time by one month, introducing increased digitalization and applying the \u201ctakt\u201d principle of lean production methodology \u2013 in which the aircraft moves through the conversion with zero hours pending and zero work orders open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The digitalization includes the increasing use of Microsoft HoloLens mixed reality headsets instead of computer tablets. With 80 to 90 work orders now produced with HoloLens, the goal is to apply the system during 2020 for 50% of overall work orders, mainly for electrical and hydraulic installations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A key element of the conversion is installing the A330 MRTT\u2019s air-to-air refuelling hardware. All aircraft are equipped with hose and drogue units, and most customers have opted for Airbus\u2019 highly capable fly-by-wire Aerial Refuelling Boom System (ARBS) \u2013 which provides enhanced controllability during in-flight fuel transfers to receiver airplanes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The A330 MRTT transformation process includes locating the Airbus-developed Air Refuelling Console in the cockpit area behind the pilots. Containing seats for two crew members, this station enables the aerial refuelling to be remotely controlled, aided by an advanced high-resolution observation system with panoramic 3D-vision for operations day and night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the A330 MRTT\u2019s main deck, the aircraft\u2019s widebody cross-section can be configured a variety of roles, from the transportation of troops and personnel with capacities for 268 passengers in a two-class configuration, to aeromedical evacuation \u2013 accommodating two intensive care units, 16 stretchers, along with seating for medical staff and passengers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Customers from around the world <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Airbus delivered its initial A330 MRTT in December 2009, with this no. 1 aircraft received by the Royal Australian Air Force. Today, A330 MRTTs are flown by Australia, France, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, the United Emirates and United Kingdom \u2013 logging a combined total of more than 200,000 flight hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A total of 60 A330 MRTTs have been ordered for operations at the service of 13 nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Having earned its reputation as the new-generation aerial tanker of choice for military services worldwide, Airbus\u2019 A330 Multi Role Tanker Transports (MRTTs) are now being <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8288,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10172,8637,9316,798,4813,9181,89,5804,5637,1836,5992,7929,2203,4957,5676,10674,5446,10169,10176,1397,10195,10171,868],"tags":[8307,739,1052,6375,539,47,464,10258,514,2860,11955,2915,1480,876,160,508,1293,2474,5967,7800,11260,445,10908,2665,3451,1001,207,1182,11039,11954,11953,1662,2933,3522,10934,1795,11951,7624,889,938,8635,11222,5364,718,412,7405,10138,6433,1685,4296,515,11956,11808,5367,3357,2397,1055,413,1993,1932,1177,11952,981,1017,11949,1691,1658,11950,444,949,1972,839],"class_list":["post-8285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aerospace","category-air-cargo-news","category-air-force-news","category-airbus-news","category-airplane-news","category-australia-news","category-aviation-news","category-avionics","category-business-news","category-defense-news","category-economic-news","category-european-news","category-finance-news","category-global-politics","category-international-news","category-military","category-military-news","category-news","category-stock-news-2","category-stock-news","category-transport","category-transportation","category-transportation-news","tag-3d","tag-a330","tag-aerial","tag-aeromedical","tag-air","tag-airbus","tag-aircraft","tag-airlifter","tag-airliner","tag-arabia","tag-arbs","tag-assembly","tag-australia","tag-australian","tag-aviation","tag-boom","tag-cargo","tag-cockpit","tag-console","tag-conversion","tag-duties","tag-emirates","tag-evacuation","tag-facility","tag-final","tag-force","tag-france","tag-generation","tag-getafe","tag-headsets","tag-hololens","tag-industrial","tag-kingdom","tag-korea","tag-lean","tag-line","tag-methodology","tag-microsoft","tag-military","tag-mission","tag-mixed","tag-mrtt","tag-multi","tag-new","tag-news","tag-optimised","tag-optimized","tag-panoramic","tag-passenger","tag-process","tag-production","tag-reality","tag-refuelling","tag-role","tag-royal","tag-saudi","tag-service","tag-singapore","tag-south","tag-spain","tag-system","tag-takt","tag-tanker","tag-toulouse","tag-transforms","tag-transport","tag-transportation","tag-troops","tag-united","tag-vision","tag-widebody","tag-worldwide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8285"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8289,"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8285\/revisions\/8289"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}