combat aircraft

Acknowledgments: The authors wish to thank the

Italian Air Force press offi ce, Col Caruso and all

the staff at 14° Stormo and 8° Gruppo.

Above: An F-35A

moves in to

refuel from the

centerline boom

in the course

of testing at

Edwards in 2015.

USAF/Jet Fabara

Once on the KC-767 squadron, tuition

begins in the simulator, followed by

live  ying, ultimately working up to a

combat-ready quali cation.

Future focus

The KC-767 team has recently spent a

good deal of time in the US supporting

the F-35 Lightning II program. In the

future, the Italian KC-767A’s dual hose-

and-drogue and boom capabilities will

suit Italy’s operation of both the F-35A

and F-35B, which use the two di erent

systems to refuel.

KC-767 certi cation with the F-35A

started back in February 2015 and the

aircraft entered a three-month  ight-

test program that July at Edwards AFB,

California. To complete the  ight-test

campaign, Italy’s Reparto Sperimentale

Volo (RSV, Flight Test Department),

in conjunction with the 14° Stormo,

notched up some 600 contacts. This

paved the way for the KC-767 to support

the  rst Italian-assembled F-35A

(AL-1)  ying trans-Atlantic from the

 nal assembly and check-out facility

(FACO) at Cameri to NAS Patuxent River,

Maryland, where it arrived on February

5, 2016. AL-2 and AL-3 followed in May,

and  nally AL-4 in September 2016.

All these Lightning IIs were ultimately

destined for the B-course training center

at Luke AFB, Arizona.

Despite the aircraft’s troubled

beginnings and its inability to attract

a larger customer base, the AM is

delighted with its KC-767s. It is rare

for a European air force to be able to

justify an indigenous tanker force, but

it’s clear that with just four KC-767s the

AM gets a great return on its investment

domestically, while being able to

support its allies in a number of ways.

including Australian F/A-18Fs, Canadian

CF-188s, French Rafales and Mirage

2000s as well as Italian AMXs and

Tornados. During the  rst three years

of KC-767 operations as part of OIR the

aircraft exceeded 4,000  ight hours.

Back at home with the 14° Stormo,

the Gruppo E cienza Aeromobili (GEA

or Aircraft E ciency Group) takes

care of KC-767A maintenance. Col

Andrea serves as an instructor pilot

and oversees maintenance. ‘Initial

technical support was contracted to

Boeing for a period of  ve years and

this has been extended as required. The

contract guarantees the availability of

approximately 3,000  ight hours per

year across the  eet.’

New pilots destined for the KC-767

traditionally pass though the 70° Stormo

at Latina on the SF260, followed by the

61° Stormo at Lecce on the MB339 jet

trainer or otherwise via  ying schools

in the US or at Kalamata, Greece, both

 ying the T-6 Texan II. The  nal steps to

the KC-767 come through training on

the Tecnam P2006T with the 70° Stormo

and the CAEMC (Centro Addestramento

Equipaggi Multi-Crew or Multi-Crew

Training Center) at Pratica di Mare on the

P180 Avanti, or alternatively via Naval Air

Station Corpus Christi, Texas on the US

Navy’s T-44s.

http://www.combataircraft.net // July 2018 59

Right: The

Italian KC-767

became the fi rst

international

tanker to

complete tanking

with the F-35A

in testing at

Edwards AFB

from July 2015.

Lockheed Martin/

Jonathan Case

54-59 Italian tankers C.indd 59 22/05/2018 15:23