The Italian Air Force has conducted test flights on two Boeing KC-767 aerial refuelling tankers at the US Air Force’s Edwards Air Force Base.
During the flights the tanker aircraft performed a series of airborne boom contacts and fuel offloads including KC-767 fuel transfers with a US Air Force F-16 aircraft as well between the two aircraft.
The Military Utility Observation demonstrated the operational capabilities of the tankers while the refuelling process was executed by using the KC-767 tankers’ advanced aerial refuelling boom and Remote Aerial Refuelling Operator station.
The KC-767 tankers performed similar flights for combined personnel of the US and Italian Air Force pilots with boom operators offloading more than 100,000lb of fuel on 65 tanker-to-tanker contacts.
In addition, the tankers performed more than 100 day and night airborne boom contacts with the F-16 aircraft and offloaded about 5,000lb of fuel.
The wide body airlifters can carry a combination of both passengers and cargo featuring wing pod and centerline hose-and-drogue systems.
