Helicopter Aerial Refuelling: A400M Challenges

César González Gómez, Experimental Flight Test Engineer, Airbus Defence and Space / Getafe Spain

Abstract

The A400M Program is now reaching full certification of the Helicopter Aerial Refueling capability. This will be the end of a long journey, which started several years ago when the initial capability assessment was conducted. Significant difficulties were faced during the development program in order to overcome the specific requirements of a helicopter receiver, when compared to a fixed wing receiver, which had been overlooked in the initial design. The specificities of the helicopter envelope: low altitude, low airspeed, heavy tanker wake, along with the operation conducted under night covert conditions, required tanker design changes that were not initially foreseen. These difficulties almost led to the cancelation of this capability. Finally a proper technical solution was implemented and demonstrated and is about to be delivered for operations.

This paper will go through main challenges faced on the Program and will show the technical solutions provided by Airbus DS to deliver this critical and very specific military capability.