The Brazilian Air Force (FAB) opened this Thursday (27) a tender for the acquisition of two Airbus A330-200. The document was published in the Federal Official Gazette, making the aircraft purchase process official under the KC-X3 Project.
According to the matter of Air Force Magazine, the international tender aims to acquire two A330 enger aircraft. Later, the jets will be converted into multi-mission tankers in the MRTT (Multi Role Tanker Transport) standard at the Airbus facilities in Getafe, Spain. The new FAB A330s will be based at Galeão Air Force Base in Rio de Janeiro, where they will be used by the Corsair Squadron (2nd Squadron of the 2nd Transport Group).
One of the requirements is that the aircraft be a little less than eight years old, that is, manufactured after 2014, in addition to being compatible for future military conversion. The bidding published in the Official Gazette of the Union has the registration number 67102.220004/2022-59, with the Brazilian Aeronautical Commission in Washington (CABW) as responsible.
The aircraft will initially be designated C-330, possibly being redesignated KC-330 after conversion to a tanker in Spain, which takes around 18 months according to Airbus. In addition to refueling other aircraft, the A330 MRTT can carry out enger, cargo and medical evacuation missions. The model has already been ordered by Australia, , NATO, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom.
See more: Airbus A330 MRTT: The possible future refueler of the Brazilian Air Force
According to RFA, the conversion of the planes will be covered by another contract. Also in May 2021, the FAB received authorization from the Ministry of Defense to probe the market for two aircraft used for the in-flight refueling mission (REVO).
As the FAB does not operate planes with the launch-receiver system, the A330 will probably be converted to the standard with three refueling points. In this configuration – the same used by the A330 Voyager KC.3 from RAF – the aircraft is equipped with two Cobhan 905E pods on the wingtips and a rear station with the FRU-805E (Fuselage Refueling Unit) system. The 905E pods transfer 1300 kilograms of fuel per minute, while the FRU transfers 1.800 kilograms per minute.
The future C-330s will replace the Boeing C-767 registration FAB 2900, a 767-300ER that the Air Force operated under lease between 2016 and 2019. FAB's initial desire was to convert two 767s to the KC-767 standard, arriving to contract, in 2013, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to carry out the service. However, the contract did not go ahead for budgetary reasons.
The acquisition of new aircraft aims to fill the gap left with the retirement of Boeing KC-137, popularly called 'Sucatão'. There were four aircraft that carried out the transport and refueling mission in a strategic flight, capable of refueling the fighters Mirage 2000 (also retired), F-5 and A-1 in long range missions, multiplying the autonomy of these vectors.
The large dimensions of Brazil, together with the FAB's constitutional mission, impose the need for an aircraft of this size. Leasing the C-767 only filled part of the gap, as the plane did not perform in-flight refueling missions.
Currently, the only FAB REVO vectors are two KC-130M Hércules, registrations 2461 and 2462, Fat Squadron (1st/1st GT). in the future the KC-390 Millennium must fulfill this mission as well. However, it should be ed that both are tactical and not strategic aircraft like the new A330. This translates into being more flexible but carrying less fuel and having a shorter range.
