While the UK has finally decided to deploy Tornado and Typhoon fighters to carry out air strikes in Syria, Germany is expected to only send Tornado reconnaissance variants but no offensive aircraft. (GE Mod photo)


December 3, 2015 defense-aerospace.com
(Source: Deutsche Welle German Radio; issued December 3, 2015)


The German military is expected to strengthen the alliance against the 'Islamic State' (IS) with six Tornado jets for surveillance missions. Up to 1,200 German soldiers are also be deployed for a year.

German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) said that a combination of airstrikes and "local ground troops" was the most promising strategy in the fight against the self-declared "Islamic State" (IS).

The role of the six Tornado fighter jets to be sent by Germany is to provide more information on Syria. A refueling aircraft is also to be deployed, in addition to a warship, which will be sent to protect a French aircraft carrier.

No cooperation with Assad troops

In order to move forward on the issue of ground troops, however, von der Leyen said "one of the first aims must first be for the 1,200 armed groups in Syria to reach a ceasefire," adding that it was important to find forces in the region that were ready to go fight.

The defense minister stressed, however, that there would be no cooperation with troops under the command of Syrian President Bashar al- Assad.
Sign to France and Syria

According to von der Leyen, the aim of the military, which would be deployed in January, is to combat and curb IS, destroy their options to retreat and prevent militants from carrying out further terrorist attacks.

Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, is set to approve the mandate on Friday.
In light of November's Paris attacks, von der Leyen said Germany's military action should also be a clear signal to France and "to the people in Syria," that Germany is determined to join the fight against IS.

23 October, 2015 By James Drew – FG

Washington DC  - Just months after being rejected by South Korea and weeks after first flight, Boeing’s KC-46A has been selected by Japan to supplement the nation’s KC-767 tanker fleet.

The announcement came from Japanese defence minister Gen Nakatani on Friday, and constitutes a significant win for Boeing after a troubled start to the next-generation tanker development programme with the US Air Force. The Pegasus tanker can almost see the end of its development phase, after achieving first flight 25 September from Paine Field in Washington, following a roughly nine-month delay. According to Boeing, KC-46 is particularly attractive to Japan as it will be capable of refuelling the Japan Air Self-Defense Force’s planned fleet of Bell-Boeing MV-22 Osprey helicopters. Japan intends to procure three tankers for fielding in the 2020 time frame, at a cost of more ¥20.8 billion – about $173 million per tanker.

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07 octobre 2015 Par Julien Bonnet – Usine Nouvelle

Le futur ravitailleur de l’US Air Force, le KC-46 Pegasus de Boeing, a effectué son premier vol le 25 septembre dernier entre Everett et Seattle au nord-ouest des Etats-Unis. L’armée américaine en a commandé 179 exemplaires. Objectif : remplacer ses (KC-135) Stratotanker développés dans les années 50 et qui lui coûte plusieurs milliards de dollars chaque année pour les maintenir en service.

September 15, 2015 by Bryant Jordan - defensetech.org

The U.S. Air Force’s new KC-46A aerial refueling tanker made by Boeing Co. is scheduled to make its first flight on Sept. 25, a general said.

The date was announced Tuesday by Brig. Gen. Duke Richardson during the Air & Space Conference near Washington, D.C. The milestone for the eventual successor to the KC-135 and KC-10 was initially planned for the spring.

“Once that first flight occurs we’ll go into initial air worthiness,” he said. That means the second flight will begin testing the boom, hose and drogue systems, he said.

Richardson, the program executive officer for tankers with the Air Force Material Command at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, said the subsequent flights will involve a variety of aircraft flying with the KC-46 and culminate with actual refueling flights in January.

Sen. John McCain, a Republican from Arizona and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the recent cost overrun on the aircraft, known as the Pegasus and based on the 767 twin-engine commercial airliner, is “deeply unfortunate” and that he’s concerned about delays to the program.

McCain said he detailed the concerns in a recent letter to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter. He and Sen. Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island, sent a similar letter over issues with the Air Force’s new bomber program.

“While the recently announced cost overrun on the Air Force’s KC-46A tanker is deeply unfortunate, it is encouraging that the contractor, and not the taxpayer, will bear this expense,” McCain said.

“That said, the resulting delays to the program’s internal deadlines for completing key qualification and planned ground and flight testing activities are indicative of a program at risk of not meeting its planned delivery milestones,” he said.

Boeing plans to deliver the first 18 KC-46As to the Air Force by August 2017. The service estimates it will spend $49 billion to develop and build 149 of the planes to replace its aging fleet of KC-135s, according to Pentagon budget documents. Boeing forecasts an $80 billion global market for the new tankers, according to Trading Alpha.

30/06/2015 By: James Drew - FG

Airbus Defence & Space this week added South Korea to its growing list of A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) operators after the nation downselected the tanker type over Boeing’s KC-46A Pegasus and Israel Aerospace Industries’ 767-based design.

South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration announced the selection decision on 30 June, citing the performance and price of the European tanker over the US and Israeli alternatives.

The $1.26 billion KC-X programme aims to deliver four tankers by 2019, and the selection of Airbus is an important victory for the company as it looks to an upcoming Japanese tanker competition.

Boeing had expressed confidence before the decision, touting estimates that the KC-46A it is developing for the US Air Force will cost 25% less to own and operate over its life-cycle compared with the A330 MRTT, despite being a more expensive aircraft up front. However, Airbus offers a much larger aircraft compared with the 767-based KC-46A, and it can carry 111t (245,000lb) of fuel and up to 300 troops.

“This contract will also allow Airbus Defence & Space to establish a long-term and sustainable cooperation with the Korean industry,” says company spokeswoman Maggie Bergsma. “We will carry out our contractual obligations faithfully and are looking forward to executing this programme in a timely and efficient way as we have done with other A330 MRTT contracts.

“The decision means that the A330 MRTT has won every tanker competition outside of the United States since it entered the market, and has now been selected by nine nations plus the European Defence Agency.”

The decision to go with a European supplier shows that South Korea is prepared to break from the tradition of buying American military hardware, following multi-billion-dollar commitments last year to procure the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and three Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned air vehicles.

"While we are disappointed with this decision, we remain committed to our partnerships in Korea,” says Boeing spokesman Chick Ramey.

Boeing’s KC-46 programme is running behind schedule, and is yet to conduct the first full-up KC-46A tanker flight. The first 767-2C engineering and manufacturing development aircraft recently flew an airworthiness test fitted with a boom and wing aerial refuelling pods. Still, Boeing can claim the largest base customer, the US Air Force, with 176 orders expected initially and potentially up to 400 as the aging KC-135 is retired.

Meanwhile, Airbus already has 35 solid orders on its books from six countries, and has delivered more than 24 aircraft to date. The tanker has also been selected by India (six aircraft) and Qatar (two). France is boosting its tanker order to 12, and the European Defence Agency is exploring options to acquire several aircraft that would be operated jointly.

One of Boeing’s biggest selling points was interoperability with the US fleet. The KC-46 will be certified to refuel more than 64 receiver types at little or no cost to the foreign customer, Boeing says.

However, Korea is not alone in the Pacific. The Royal Australia Air Force – which operates Super Hornets and, soon, F-35As – was the tanker type’s launch customer and it has already completed several refuelling certifications.

Singapore has also ordered six aircraft, and in Europe and the Middle East – Korea would dovetail on the established MRTT programmes of the UK, France, Saudi Arabia and UAE.

Crédit : Etat-major des armées / armée de l’Air
 

23 mars 2015 Quelle: Redaktion der Bundeswehr 03/2015 15E15402

13 mars 2015 Armée de l'Air

Ilyushin Il-78 simulating aerial refueling with a Tu-95MS during the Victory Day Parade in Moscow on 9 May 2009 Photo Sergey Ashmarin

22.011.2015 Vassili Kachine - La Voix de la Russie

Le ministère de la Défense de Russie a conclu avec la Compagnie aéronautique unifiée russe (OAK) un contrat d'achat de deux premiers ravitailleurs construits sur la base de la version cargo de l'avion à large fuselage russe Iliouchine Il-96. Selon un expert du Centre d'analyse des stratégies et des technologies, cette décision suppose que le futur avion à large fuselage russo-chinois pourrait se décliner en versions militaires.

Le ravitailleur construit sur la base de l'Iliouchine Il-96 s'appellera Il-96-400TZ. Il doit être en état de ravitailler les avions en 65 tonnes de kérosène à une distance de 3 500 km de sa base. De cette façon ses capacités sont largement supérieures à celles d'Iliouchine Il-78 utilisé par les forces aériennes de Russie et, depuis peu, par l'armée de l'air chinoise.

L'Iliouchine Il-78 embarque 60-65 tonnes de carburant pour une distance de 1 000 km. A une distance de 2 500 km, le ravitaillement diminue jusqu'à 32-36 tonnes. Sa version modernisée est capable de ravitailler les avions à une plus grande distance allant jusqu'à 4 000 km, mais sa capacité de ravitaillement baisse également jusqu'à 32-36 tonnes.

Un ravitailleur plus puissant et lourd convient mieux pour assurer les activités de l'aviation embarquée. En plus, il peut être utilisé d'une manière efficace pour ravitailler des avions lourds tels que les bombardiers stratégiques et les avions volant à de grandes distances, plus particulièrement sur d'autres continents pour participer à des exercices conjoints.

La Russie a pratiquement cessé de construire les avions de ligne Il-96, mais elle construit sur leur base des avions spéciaux, plus particulièrement les avions de communication ou des postes de commandement volants. C'est l'unique avion de ligne à large fuselage construit en dehors des Etats-Unis et de l'Europe de l'Ouest.

En 2015, la Russie et la Chine entameront en commun l'avant-projet d'un avion de ligne à large fuselage. Selon le ministère russe de l'Industrie et du Commerce, l'avion conjoint pourrait décoller pour la première fois en 2021 ou en 2022 et son exploitation commerciale pourrait commencer vers 2025.

La Chine a récemment acheté à l'Ukraine un certain nombre (pas plus de trois) de ravitailleurs Il-78. En plus elle dispose de plusieurs bombariers H-6 transformés en ravitailleurs. Le développement des capacités de ravitaillement en vol est une priorité pour les forces aériennes chinoises. Les avions de types nouveaux sont dotés d'équipements appropriés et les unités aériennes d'élite organisent des entraînements avec plusieurs ravitaillements pendant un seul vol.

En attendant la Chine se propose d'utiliser en tant que ravitailleur son futur avion militaire de transport Y-20. Sa construction en série doit commencer beaucoup avant que celle de l'avion à large fuselage russo-chinois. La Chine a déjà organisé la production des dispositifs de ravitaillement qui copient le système russe UPAZ-1. Un certain nombre de ces ravitailleurs sera évidemment construit avant 2025.

Dans une perspective plus lointaine, la construction de ravitailleurs et de certains autres types d'avions spéciaux, notamment des avions de détection, sur la base de l'avion à large fuselage conjoint pourrait être raisonnable. L'avion de transport militaire n'est pas la plate-forme optimale pour un ravitailleur. Les avions de transport sont développés de la façon à faciliter les travaux de transbordement ou le parachutage et à accroître au maximum les performances de décollage et d'atterrissage pour transporter des frets sur les aérodromes avancés. Les ravitailleurs n'en ont pas besoin, c'est pouroquoi en Occident ils sont constuits le plus souvent sur la base des avions de ligne. Pour la Chine un ravitailleur plus lourd et puissant pourrait être particulièrement utile car cela étendra la zone d'action de l'aviation chinoise au-dessus de l'océan Pacifique.

Avion ravitailleur KC-46 de Boeing développé pour l’US Air Force qui en a commandé 179 – photo Boeing

30 décembre 2014 Aerobuzz.fr

Boeing annonce que l’avion-ravitailleur KC-46 a effectué son premier vol, le 28 décembre 2014, à Paine Field (Washington). L’avion, un Boeing 767-2C qui a volé 3 heures et 32 minutes, sera doté de ses systèmes militaires après certification. Ce premier vol s’inscrit dans le programme de l’avion ravitailleur de nouvelle génération destiné à l’US Air Force. Le contrat a été remporté par Boeing en 2011 après un épique combat à rebondissements multiples mené contre Airbus et son A330 MRTT.

Boeing prévoit d’utiliser 4 avions d’essais : deux 767-2C et deux KC-46A. Les 767-2C seront utilisés pour la certification de la version cargo, avant de recevoir les systèmes de ravitaillement en vol. Dans le même temps, les KC-46, entièrement équipés, seront utilisés pour les certifications militaire et civile (FAA). Boeing doit livrer à l’US Air Force, les 18 premiers KC-46 en 2017. Le contrat total porte sur 179 avions.

August 11, 2014: Strategy Page

The Iraqi government recently scored a victory in their campaign to prevent the Kurds in the north from selling any more of the oil the Kurds are now pumping and shipping out via Turkey. This win came in the United States where lawyers representing Iraq convinced an American court to block the sale of a million barrels of Kurdish oil in the United States. As of August 1 st this leaves a tanker carrying a million barrels of Kurdish oil stranded in a Texas port while lawyers representing Iraq and the Kurds continue to argue over whether the autonomous Kurds of northern Iraq can actually own and can sell oil pumped from Kurdish controlled oil fields. The U.S. court, for the moment, agrees with Iraq that all oil pumped in Iraq (which the autonomous Kurdish territory is still technically part of) is owned by the Iraqi government. The Kurds point out that the share of Iraq oil income promised them has been plundered by corrupt Arab politicians in the Iraqi government and that the only way to get their fair share is to pump it, ship it and sell it themselves. The Kurds currently have three tankers at sea filled with their oil but the Iraqi government has lawyers standing by to halt any sale of this oil.

The Kurds had hoped that the Iraqi government would relent because in June, when Iraq asked the Kurds to send some of their troops south to fight ISIL Islamic terrorists forces threatening to march on Baghdad, the Kurds did move south. But the Kurds want the Shia dominated Iraq government to stop opposing Kurdish efforts to export and sell oil pumped within the Kurdish controlled areas of northern Iraq. The Arab Iraqis, for the moment, do not believe Kurdish military assistance is worth that high a price.

In April 2013 Iraqi Kurds sold their first shipment of Kurdish oil (produced in oil fields developed by Kurds in Kurdish controlled territory.) This oil was trucked across the border to Turkey and sold for $22 million. The Iraqi government loudly protested this independent oil operation but the Iraqi armed forces were not powerful enough to stop the Kurds.

It was back in 2012 that the Kurdish government in northern Iraq announced that they would begin exporting oil via a pipeline through Turkey by 2013 and then ship it to buyers worldwide. The Iraqi government insisted that this would not happen. This is an Arab/Kurd conflict, part of a struggle that goes back thousands of years. The Kurds are relying on Turkish support, and in return are cooperating with Turkish efforts to deal with Turkish PKK Kurdish separatists, who have bases in northern Iraq. While the PKK goal of a separate Kurdish state is popular with most Kurds (even in northern Iraq), the survival of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq is considered more crucial, for now.

Iraq is producing 3.5 million barrels of oil a day, more than the Saddam ever achieved. Iraqi oil production had been stuck at 2.5 million barrels a day since the 1980s (production had peaked in the late 1970s at four million barrels a day). Iraqi has nine percent of the world's oil reserves, but decades of war and mismanagement had prevented necessary maintenance and construction in the oil fields. For the last few years the oil regions have been safe for foreign oil production companies to bring in their experts, and cash, in to get the job done, so Iraqi production has been steadily increasing. The goal is ten million barrels a day by the end of the decade. The Kurds plan to start exporting 80,000 barrels a day in by 2014, largely with the help of Turkish investors. Kurdish production is currently 120,000 barrels a day. The remaining problem is how to deal with the corruption that has diverted so much oil income into the pockets of thieving politicians and government officials. In Iraq, corruption is like the weather; everyone talks about it but not enough people do anything about it.

Tuesday 15 July - Norbert Thomas - EATC

15 juillet 2014 Usinenouvelle.com

Boeing pourrait devoir assumer des coûts de développement nettement supérieurs à ses prévisions pour le KC-46, le futur avion ravitailleur de l'armée de l'air américaine, même si le contrat prévoit que le constructeur assume seul ces dépassements, a déclaré le responsables des achats du Pentagone.

Frank Kendall, secrétaire adjoint à la Défense des Etats-Unis, a déclaré à des journalistes dimanche soir que le programme évoluait convenablement mais que plusieurs événements imprévus se traduisaient par une augmentation de son coût.

Boeing et le Pentagone sont en désaccord sur le montant du dépassement potentiel, notamment parce que le constructeur estime que les coûts des essais en vol seront inférieurs aux prévisions de l'administration.

"Nous nous attendons bien à un dépassement que Boeing devra assumer", a dit Frank Kendall. "C'est simplement une question d'amplitude du dépassement. Nous considérons que le chiffre sera nettement plus élevé qu'ils ne l'ont admis jusqu'à présent."

Boeing n'a pas fait de commentaire dans l'immédiat sur le montant du dépassement.