Airbus A330 Voyager (MRTT) (RAF)

Contains threads on Royal Air Force equipment of the past, present and future.
Little J
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Re: Airbus A330 Voyager (MRTT) (RAF)

Post by Little J »

However a government source insisted that the converted RAF plane will not be "luxurious" in stark contrast to the jets used by other World leaders.
In that case keep the fleet as is and rent one off the RAF when you need one Dave. If not buy your bloody own.

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Re: Airbus A330 Voyager (MRTT) (RAF)

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SKB
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Re: Airbus A330 Voyager (MRTT) (RAF)

Post by SKB »

I wonder if the A330 in question will be transferred into No.32 Squadron? (The Royal Squadron)

Its about time in my opinion. The United Kingdom is the only G20 country without an officially dedicated large long-range government aircraft.

I would hope the Royal family also get to use it too for their overseas State visits. Arriving in country's on a chartered civilian airliner looks awfully cheap, unprofessional and not very elegant... with exception to when they used Concorde. ;)

Here's a wiki page listing all other countries with at least one dedicated aeroplane. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_trans ... government

Also set up a new No.32 Squadron (The Royal Squadron) thread just in case... http://ukdefenceforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=443

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Pseudo
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Re: Airbus A330 Voyager (MRTT) (RAF)

Post by Pseudo »

SKB wrote:I wonder if the A330 in question will be transferred into No.32 Squadron? (The Royal Squadron)

Its about time in my opinion. The United Kingdom is the only G20 country without an officially dedicated large long-range government aircraft.

I would hope the Royal family also get to use it too for their overseas State visits. Arriving in country's on a chartered civilian airliner looks awfully cheap, unprofessional and not very elegant... with exception to when they used Concorde. ;)
That's pretty much my opinion too. I don't know about anyone else, but seeing our monarch return from a foreign trip in a small passenger jet emblazoned with Spurs livery* isn't something that makes me feel proud.

I'd also love to see a reasonably modest Royal Yacht in the 4,000t region.

* Though I mean no offence to Spurs fans.

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SKB
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Re: Airbus A330 Voyager (MRTT) (RAF)

Post by SKB »

That Spur's plane (registered as G-THFC) was an Embraer Legacy 600, owned and chartered by London Executive Aviation.

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Re: Airbus A330 Voyager (MRTT) (RAF)

Post by Ron5 »

Didn't think the RAF "owned" the Voyagers in the first place. Who pays the 10 million for conversion? Hopefully not the MoD.

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CR4ZYHOR5E
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Re: Airbus A330 Voyager (MRTT) (RAF)

Post by CR4ZYHOR5E »

Think it's a decent move, particularly if the cost is picked up by another department. My understanding was that the RAF had a number of the total (9?) available as part of the permanent fleet and the balance (5?) as a surge capability that AirTanker would push onto other punters when not required? Every time I open Flight International someone from AirTanker talks about another bright idea to utilise the surge fleet (NATO, Thomas Cook wet lease etc...). Hopefully this airframe comes from this surge fleet.

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Re: Airbus A330 Voyager (MRTT) (RAF)

Post by Pseudo »

SKB wrote:That Spur's plane (registered as G-THFC) was an Embraer Legacy 600, owned and chartered by London Executive Aviation.
Oh, don't you go undermining my monarchistic nationalism with facts. :P

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Re: Airbus A330 Voyager (MRTT) (RAF)

Post by shark bait »

Also available to the royals, could this then be the end of the royal squadron?

Overall I am open to the idea, as CR4ZYHOR5E mentions their are a few sitting around without a use at the moment so it makes sense they are put to use, and it is about time we had a proper state aircraft.

The optimistic side to me says perhaps this is an indication the military will do quite well next week. It would be suicide if he decided to slash the military, and then get him self a massive private jet.
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Re: Airbus A330 Voyager (MRTT) (RAF)

Post by Lugzy »

IT does seem these days your political power is determined my the size of the aircraft you arrive in :roll: The arrival of foreign leaders and the staged wave at the aircrafts door before walking down the steps to be greeted does seem to be a favourite news report for the worlds press.
Tbh I'm in favour of letting Cameron have use of a RAF a330 , it is embarrassing to see the prime minister arrive to major summits in a BAE 146 , surrounded by 747s of other major leaders, :lol:
I know it's been pointed out by members above it would take 13.5 years before there are actual saving , but I'm sure this would be at least halved if it is used by the Royal flight , plus it states the aircraft would return to its role of inflight refuelling if not being used which seems fair in my opinion.

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Re: Airbus A330 Voyager (MRTT) (RAF)

Post by Gabriele »

If, as it appears likely, the aircraft is to be fitted with extensive secure communications, it can't possibly be one of those in the surge fleet. You can't release on the civilian market that kind of classified equipment, and removing it and re-fitting it every time is probably stretching it way too much. Also, it takes a while to have back one aircraft of the surge fleet if it is out on contract with another operator.

Of course, it the Voyager had the top deck cargo door, it could perhaps use a VVIP module that could be quickly pushed in and out. But the top deck cargo capability is one of those key features that the Voyager does not have.

At most, we can hope that the surge fleet rises from 9 to 10 to accomodate this new requirement. Keep in mind that of the 9, one is always in the Falklands and another works as cargo only, without air refueling kit installed and using its civilian registration as it flies back and forth from the Falklands, Cyprus and elsewhere to shuttle personnel around.
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RichardIC
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Re: Airbus A330 Voyager (MRTT) (RAF)

Post by RichardIC »

Y'know I'd be happy for the surge fleet to rise to 10.

On the other hand I cannot understand why we keep a Voyager in the Falklands full-time, especially as it won't fit in the blessed hangar.

A more obvious solution (especially with the imminent drawdown of the C130 fleet) would be to replace the Voyager and C130 with two A400m equipped for swing-role inflight refuelling/cargo/ maritime patrol.

That way we'd get an extra Voyager that could be used for the VVIP role - and I agree it's bloody daft not to have a dedicated asset at present.

We'd need an extra two A400m 'cos surely to goodness they couldn't be released from the existing paltry planned fleet.

And I'm sure people will say that that would breach the exclusivity clause that gives Airtanker a monopoly on AAR. However Gabriele seems to think this is more imagined than real and the clause either doesn't exist or could be modified if operationally necessary.

Anyhoo I'm veering off topic.

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Re: Airbus A330 Voyager (MRTT) (RAF)

Post by SKB »

Added a poll to the thread. (See top ^)

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SKB
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Re: Airbus A330 Voyager (MRTT) (RAF)

Post by SKB »

A few quick repaint ideas of my own for the new Ministerial/Royal A330, inspired by existing No.32 Squadron BAe 146 planes.
To be honest, I don't really think the plane will be repainted, as it will still be required for air to air refuelling duties. ;)
A330 Ideas.PNG

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shark bait
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Re: Airbus A330 Voyager (MRTT) (RAF)

Post by shark bait »

SKB wrote:A few ideas of my own for the Ministerial/Royal A330, inspired by existing No.32 Squadron planes.
Needs a bigger flag.
Would this look a bit too tacky?

Image
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Re: Airbus A330 Voyager (MRTT) (RAF)

Post by RetroSicotte »

Not really the option on the poll for me, which would be "Yes, so long as Cam isn't stealing one of the most precious assets we have that we have far too few of already."

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Re: Airbus A330 Voyager (MRTT) (RAF)

Post by Tiny Toy »

SKB wrote:Added a poll to the thread. (See top ^)
I think it could do with a few more options instead of just "yes". For instance, whether to have separate aircraft for the royal family and for senior government officials, or whether it/they should be shared.

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Re: Airbus A330 Voyager (MRTT) (RAF)

Post by SKB »

Seems this RAF A330 VVIP idea has been around for quite a few years. This Reuters article was published 20th April 2012!
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/04/2 ... E520120420

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Re: Airbus A330 Voyager (MRTT) (RAF)

Post by arfah »

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Re: Airbus A330 Voyager (MRTT) (RAF)

Post by SKB »

I've closed the VVIP A330 poll. After collecting 42 votes, 100% of those votes unanimously agreed that the UK should have a long-range VVIP A330 aircraft. ;)

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Re: Airbus A330 Voyager (MRTT) (RAF)

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Re: Airbus A330 Voyager (MRTT) (RAF)

Post by RetroSicotte »

I did. As again, I feel there wasn't enough options to accurately reflect the genuine outlook given the weird circumstances surrounding this particular choice of aircraft.

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Re: Airbus A330 Voyager (MRTT) (RAF)

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Re: Airbus A330 Voyager (MRTT) (RAF)

Post by Ianmb17 »

Will the boom be fitted now with p8 purchase

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Re: Airbus A330 Voyager (MRTT) (RAF)

Post by downsizer »

Nope.

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