Posted on 07/15/2011 12:18:04 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
RAF's giant of skies to be 'christened' by defence chiefs
15 July 2011 |UK
The RAF’s largest and newest aircraft - the A330 ‘Voyager’ – was officially christened today.
It was making its first official public appearance at RAF Fairford for the Royal International Air Tattoo - an event that every year keeps the capabilities and importance of air power in the minds of the nation.
The Defence Secretary Liam Fox and Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton attended the naming ceremony.
Dr Fox said: "I am delighted to see the new Royal Air Force Voyager aircraft formally presented to the public.
“This magnificent aircraft is the future for the RAF’s air to air refuelling and passenger transport capability for the coming decades.
“Voyager, together with the C-17, C-130J and the A400M transport aircraft will provide the RAF with a truly world class fleet of aircraft, underpinning the global reach that is vital to our operations.”
Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton said: “As we have seen in Afghanistan and Libya, an effective air to air refuelling and transport fleet is an essential force multiplier in this era of expeditionary warfare.
"Voyager, when it enters service later this year, will excel in these roles by not only increasing our air-to-air refuelling capability but also by substantially improving our strategic airlift capacity.
"Voyager is the airborne part of a flexible and cost effective whole-service contract which will enable the rapid movement of personnel around the world and provide unprecedented global reach to our combat aircraft. We can be justifiably proud of this magnificent addition to the RAF’s fleet, it will serve our Armed Forces well for many years to come.”
Voyager has a wing span of more than 60 metres and is designed to carry a payload of up to 45 tonnes, which can include up to 111 tonnes of fuel, eight standard NATO freight pallets or 291 passengers.
It is replacing the VC10 and Tristar aircraft and will operate from RAF Brize Norton.
The A330 will be flown for air-to-air refuelling and air transport missions, but will also have an aeromedical capability, enabling it to carry up to 40 NATO stretchers and three critical care patients.
The Voyager fleet is based on the A330-200 commercial passenger aircraft with twin-engines, a wide-body and twin-aisles produced by Air Tanker.
AirTanker's contract with the Ministry of Defence will see them provide 14 purpose-built A330 tanker and transport aircraft, as well as the associated support services, including training, maintenance, infrastructure, flight operations and ground services.
AirTanker has five shareholders who are also subcontractors for the programme. They are Babcock, Cobham, EADS, Rolls-Royce and Thales.
The name Voyager, follows the heritage of a number of RAF tanker aircraft, with the names beginning with V, specifically the Victor and the VC-10 Tanker aircraft.
FWIIW, after months and months of not seeing an A380, I now see one every week when I land at LAX. That is one BIG BIG beast.
IIRC, the A320 is about the size of a 767...?
330 is a little bigger than a 767-400 and a little smaller than a 777.
The 320 is 737 sized.
Total of 145 to be delivered puts them slightly larger than India’s proposed fleet of 11 C-17s. Probably a lot more flexible range of missions though.
Oops not 145, 14 ;-)
Apparently the RAF C-17s have much higher flight hours than their USAF counterparts, and are even being used by Boeing for lifetime wear analysis...:^)
Gee, that’s terrific. What with the constant downsizing of the military in Formerly-Great Britain, this one plane will be able to transport the entire army very soon.
The fault lies not with their troops but with their Parliament who more and more resembles the parliament of the Duchy of Grand Fenwick in the “Mouse That Roared”
A320 and B737 are similarly sized.
How do they compare with a 747?
How does it compare with the large Russian transports?
14 is the number of Voyager tanker/transports for the RAF. If you are referring to C-17s, the RAF has seven in service. India currently has 10 C-17s on order with options for six more though the air force has indicated it could go beyond that number.
Since its twin-engined and capable of both refuelling and transport duties, the A-330 MRTT is more versatile than Russian aircraft and has lower life-cycle costs.
From the article: “...is designed to carry a payload of up to 45 tonnes, which can include up to 111 tonnes of fuel,...”
Is that just a typo? I don’t see how a payload of 45 tonnes permits the aircraft to carry 111 tonnes of fuel.
It’s a typo-it can carry up to 111 tonnes of fuel or while in a transport role, up to 45 tonnes of cargo.
http://www.airbusmilitary.com/A330MRTT.aspx
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