The second of Australia’s new A330-based tankers touched down at Dover AFB, Del., on Oct. 29 for a stopover during its long journey from Australia to Spain, where it will undergo military certification testing. This aircraft stopped the previous day at Hickam AFB, Hawaii. The Royal Australian Air Force has ordered five new tankers from EADS, which are “nearly identical in configuration” to the tanker that Northrop Grumman’s team is offering the US Air Force in the KC-X competition, EADS said in a release. “The arrival on our shores of a fully-equipped tanker for an allied nation is yet another demonstration that the Northrop Grumman team is ready now with a low-risk solution,” said Ralph Crosby, EADS North America’s Chairman and CEO, looking to the US contest.
The U.S. sent Air Force F-16s over central Syria in a show of force following the Dec. 13 killing of two U.S. Army Soldiers and one American civilian interpreter by a gunman linked to the Islamic State group.
