An Air Force KC-135 is working with the Navy’s V-22 Osprey team to test the tilt-rotor aircraft’s mid-air refueling capability. The tests, which began on Aug. 24 at NAS Patuxent River, Md., will determine first if the two aircraft can operate near each other safely, and then proceed with actual in-air refuelings. According to V-22 program spokesman Ward Carroll, the Wednesday test proved for the first time the two aircraft could connect via refueling boom. Carroll said the current testing phase will conclude early next week.
With the Air Force in the midst of its biggest testing boom in decades, the Maintenance Operational Test (MxOT) Division at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., is making sure those tests include an often-overlooked perspective: that of maintainers.