Following a successful campaign in conjunction with the Republic of Singapore Air Force, the Airbus A330 MRTT has become the first tanker in the world to be authorised for autonomous air-to-air refuelling (A3R) boom operations in daylight (RSAF).

This capability is a component of the new SMART MRTT created by Airbus and certified by the Spanish National Institute for Aerospace Technology (INTA). The aim of the A3R system is to optimise the pace of air-to-air refuelling (AAR) transfer in operational situations to enable air superiority while reducing the burden of the air refuelling operator (ARO), improving safety, and requiring no new equipment on the receiving aircraft.

“The world’s first automated contact with a boom system in a joint operation with the Royal Australian Air Force in 2018 marked the beginning of a successful journey that culminated in the certification of the A3R capability” (RAAF). Since then, with the help of our customers, particularly with the crucial involvement of our partner the RSAF, a launch customer and the first operator to take advantage of this paradigm-shifting capability, we’ve accomplished more aeronautical “world firsts.” With improved air refuelling capabilities, the A330 MRTT maintains its technological edge, according to Jean-Brice Dumont, Head of Military Air Systems at Airbus Defence and Space.

An RSAF A330 MRTT participated in the development, flight test campaign, and certification of the A3R as part of the collaboration between Airbus and the RSAF for the development of the SMART MRTT. Furthermore, improved maintenance capabilities have been created, enabling quicker completion of ground operations while giving a way to make the best possible use of spare components.

The A330 MRTT will continue to develop in this direction. Auto’Mate, a demonstration that will develop, adapt, mature, integrate, and assess technologies enabling autonomous assets air-to-air refuelling (A4R) and autonomous formation flight (AF2) operations, has been established by Airbus through its subsidiary Airbus UpNext. The primary goal of Auto’Mate will be to automate the reception aircraft’s operations, which calls for a number of novel technologies that serve as the foundation of the UpNext Auto’Mate demonstrator.

In both scenarios, an A310 will serve as the Tanker Refuelling Flight Test Bed and DT-25 Target Drones will serve as the receiving aircraft. These technological building blocks will be evaluated in flight during 2023 with a final end-to-end demonstration mid-2024. Reduce crew fatigue and training expenses, increase safety and efficiency, and pioneer unmanned air-to-air refuelling operations (including unmanned-to-unmanned AAR operations), a highly desired capability for future defence scenarios. These are just a few of the benefits of the technologies developed in the Airbus Auto’Mate demonstrator. The first UpNext demonstrator to be introduced, created, and finished in Spain is Auto’Mate.