Italian Air Force Eurofighter in air-to-air refuelling mission

Friday, Jan 27, 2012

Air-to-air refuelling is one of the daily training activities undertaken by Eurofighter Typhoon pilots. In this picture, taken during one of those missions in January 2012, four Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force) Typhoons (three single seat and a twin seater), belonging to the 4° Stormo (Wing) based at Grosseto airbase, refuel from a KC-130J of the 46^ Brigata Aerea (Air Brigade) from Pisa.

Such training missions are routinely flown to give the Typhoon pilots the opportunity to perform multiple plugs with the tanker’s hose and practice for real operations. “Dry plugs” are connections during which no fuel is pumped from the tanker, as opposed to “wet plugs” when the receiver gets fuel.

During Operation Unified Protector in Libya, KC-130Js operating from Pisa refuelled the Italian Typhoons deployed to Trapani tasked with HVAA (High Value Air Asset) escort and DCA (Defensive Counter Air) missions.

Pictures by Eurofighter/D. Cenciotti.

Background information:

Eurofighter Typhoon is the world's most advanced new generation real multi-role/swing-role combat aircraft available on the market and has been ordered by six nations (Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, Austria and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). With 559 aircraft under contract, it is Europe’s largest military collaborative programme and delivers leading-edge technology, strengthening Europe’s aerospace industry in the global competition. More than 100,000 jobs in 400 companies are secured by the programme. Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH manages the programme on behalf of the Eurofighter Partner Companies: AleniaAermacchi/Finmeccanica, BAE Systems, EADS CASA and EADS Deutschland, Europe’s foremost aerospace companies with a total turnover of approx. €120 billion (2010).

Source: Eurofighter