Edwards Airmen conduct Air Refueling Qualification for Eurofighter Published Jan. 13, 2010 By Airman 1st Class William A. O'Brien 95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- A total of 10 Edwards flight testers deployed to Royal Air Force Mendenhall, U.K., between Oct. 19 and Dec. 21 to test the Air refueling capabilities of the Eurofighter to an American KC-135 Stratotanker and KC-10 Extender. The purpose of the tests was to ensure air refueling capabilities between NATO's fifth-generation fighter jet and American refueling aircraft. The jet is shared by four primary customer countries -- Italy, Spain, Germany and England. "The testing was done because NATO wanted the Eurofighter to get a clearance so operational Eurofighters could Air refuel with United States Air Force tankers," said Maj. Prospero "Paco" Uybarreta, 445th Flight Test Flight Squadron Multi-engine Test Flight commander. Prior to any tests taking place, everything was initiated by a Letter of Offer and Acceptance sent to the U.S. by NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Development Production and Logistics Management Agency. The letter was an official request for the U.S. to support the NATO Eurofighter Air Refueling Qualification Testing using American KC-135 and KC-10 tankers, which would ensure U.S tankers, would be capable of refueling the Eurofighter. The Air Force Flight Test Center sent one test pilot, two tanker test pilots, four flight test engineers and three test boom operators to do the testing. Approximately 24 aircrew and maintenance personnel from United States Air Forces in Europe from RAF Mildenhall, along with Air Mobility Command, which provided additional resource support to accomplish the project from McGuire AFB, NJ. "Support from RAF Mildenhall and McGuire, in terms of resource allocation, support, and flexibility, was tremendous," said Major Uybarreta. "We could not have does this without the multi-MAJCOM effort that we received." Led by Major Uybarreta, Task Force Commander and Project Test Pilot for the USAF Tanker Test Team, the U.S Air Force Tanker team deployed to Mildenhall Oct.19 to begin two months of testing. The first aircraft Eurofighter tested with was the KC-135. Testing began with 10 days of ground tests, to prevent any unexpected problems during the in-air testing. These ground tests also allowed American personnel to become more familiar with the European aircraft they would be refueling. "During ground testing, we confirmed that pressures and compatibility between the aircraft were okay," said Major Uybarreta. Following the successful ground testing, the Aeronautical System Center cleared the Eurofighter to go into flight testing with the tanker. For the air tests, the Eurofighter was equipped with "worst case scenario" air refueling wing pods to ensure that the American aircraft could refuel any Eurofighter in the fleet. To ensure that all possible operational scenarios were tested, the aircraft were put in a variety of different circumstances and performed a wide range of tests in each of them. "It's flown through an inter-lay of air refueling envelopes between both the Eurofighter and tanker," said Major Uybarreta. "Tests were done at high speeds, low speeds, high altitudes, low altitudes, day and night along with various configurations. Throughout all these tests, both crews must be manned withflight test crew members." Once most of the testing with the KC-135 was complete, the team repeated the process with a KC-10. The tests were unique because unlike usual, the Eurofighter and the KC-10 and KC-135 were stationed at different locations and through ground coordination, met over the Irish Sea to perform tests. "One of our major coordination issues was that the Eurofighter was based at BAE Wharton up near the Irish Sea, while we were operating out of Mildenhall which is northeast of London near Cambridge," said Thomas Pitsor, 445th FLTS project engineer. "We would have to take off and meet them up in the air over the Irish Sea and there was a lot of coordination in that, making sure both sides were able to take off at the same time." Throughout testing, a total of 18 sorties were flown. During each sortie, test points were performed which each country had to meet to certify the testing had been accomplished. The points covered various scenarios including handling qualities, system compatibility, fuel pressure, and probe load testing. Successful in-air refueling was accomplished by both tankers at various altitudes ranging from 5,000 feet to 34,500 feet, at speed ranges from 215 knots to 295 knots. "It's always interesting to work with another test organization," said Mr. Pitsor. "You see how they do essentially the same job, but sometimes they have a different perspective and different processes and making all those mesh and meet-up with our requirements and processes is always a bit of a challenge because we have to make sure everybody gets what they need out of the tests." Because of the success of the tests, Major Uybarreta said that he expects the Eurofighter will be cleared to be refueled by U.S. Air Force tankers. "Only very minor issues were noted during refueling between Eurofighter and both the KC-135 and KC-10 USAF tankers," added Maj. Uybarreta. "Overall, Eurofighter and the tankers should have no major problems during operational air refueling." Mr. Pitsor said that with the recent interest countries have put on interoperability, that tests of this nature have picked up and he expects to do more of them in the future. "There's a lot of foreign work that's beginning to pop up on our radar as interoperability becomes a big key word that everyone wants," he said. "A major part of that is having everybody's fighters and tankers able to work with everybody else's."