Northrop Grumman asserts that it has built and passed fuel through its boom refueling system for the KC-30. The company goes on to say the aerial refueling boom system it offered has also performed in-flight refueling.

But do the facts fully support these claims?

First of all, Northrop Grumman has NEVER built or tested an aerial refueling boom. All of the KC-30 refueling boom technology resides in Spain, inside the offices of European, Aeronautic, Defense and Space Company.

What’s more, EADS overstates its experience and its achievements in the world of military refueling booms.

Fact No. 1: Contrary to the impression NG/EADS has attempted to create, EADS has never passed fuel through a boom attached to its A330 aircraft –the platform upon which the KC-30 would be built – while in flight. EADS has been flying a boom on an A310 demonstrator that company engineers were hoping to have fully qualified by the end of 2006. That didn’t happen. The first dry contact with an F-16 was made in late 2007 and it finally passed fuel to an F-16 in late February 2008. What’s more, questions persist about how the boom actually performed in flight as only still photography had been released from the flight, until 43 seconds of edited video were released by Northrop two months after the test flight.

Fact No. 2: The first A330 tanker for the Australian Air Force has been flying with its boom stowed. It has yet to deploy the boom in flight. And the only time fuel has been passed through the boom was when sitting on the ground.

Fact No. 3: The tanker competition assessment of the EADS boom expressed concerns that it may never work. In fact, it identified three “weaknesses” with the approach. In contrast, Boeing has successfully built, tested and delivered 5 generations of refueling booms. Its 6th generation boom, the baseline in its Air Force tanker bid, is an incrementally improved derivative of the 5th generation boom flying today on the KC-767J tankers that were delivered to Japan earlier this year. Boeing successfully tested the 5th generation boom first with a B-52 and then moved onto day- and night-time operations with fighter aircraft.

Fact No. 4: Clearing a boom requires extensive flight testing at different refueling aircraft weights, airspeeds, altitudes and lighting conditions such as daytime and nighttime. What’s more, one of the most challenging parts is fielding a boom that can safely maneuver quickly when needed in situations like an emergency breakaway and also be able to be precisely controlled to be guided into the receptacle. This challenge gets harder as the boom gets bigger. With thousands of tankers built and generations of boom-building experience, Boeing has proven repeatedly it knows how to get this job done.