Airbus says aerial refueling operations could be performed with just two crewmembers on the flight deck by the end of the decade. As the company refines its automatic aerial refueling (A3R) for its A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT), with the aim of certifying the technology as ready for operations in 2021, it is already looking toward the next step. An autonomous automatic aerial refueling (A4R) capability would remove the need for an aerial refueling officer (ARO), or boom operator, from the aircraft. First, Airbus has already taken several steps to finalize development of the A3R capability. In mid-April, the company confirmed it had carried out the first fully automatic A3R operation with its A310 Aerial Refueling Boom System testbed and a Portuguese Air Force F-16 acting as a receiver. The A3R system flies the refueling boom and positions it over the receiver aircraft's receptacle until it selects the optimum moment to extend the telescopic boom and achieve the connection that allows the fuel transfer to begin.
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