paris defense attache air commodore team bottom set it was great to see french mirage planes
picking up fuel from raf voyager yesterday as they flew from france to a french air base in africa
this mission clearly demonstrates the close franco british relationship and our
ability to work together to rapidly project air power around the world
a demonstration to prove the capability of the combined expeditionary force air component
cjef air the cjef is a franco-british military force created in 2010 following the signing of
the lancaster house treaties the voyager as the raft's only aar tanker and also operates
as a strategic air transport it features two under wing pods for fast jet refueling
by doing so we have improved our technique and validated our
procedures to ensure we are ready to act as part of the joint expeditionary force
tankers transferred 90 000 liters of fuel to support the french mission to north africa
the jets traveled 4 000 miles to northeast africa to take part in exercise shaheen
the mission involved two royal air force raf a 330 voyager tankers and four hermey de lair mirage
2000 fighter jets the voyager tanker from ralph bryce norton in oxfordshire escorted and provided
air-to-air refuelling aar to fighter jets bound for djibouti africa in april voyager and raf crew
took part in a multinational refueling exercise at the eindhoven air base in the netherlands
fuel unloaded during aar is drawn from the standard wing and fuselage tanks
leaving the cabin free for 291 personnel and storage space available for transport
as a tanker capabilities include the ability to operate a tow line where the voyager orbits
around a designated area waiting for a receiver or on a trail where it flies a number of fast jets
refueling them over long distances while taking responsibility for fuel and formation navigation
alternatively it can operate as a passenger aircraft in the same way as a civilian aircraft
but deliver personnel safely to the theater thanks to its suite of defense aids the voyager
also offers ample capacity for the movement of pallets and or bulk cargo in the undercarriage of
the aircraft versatile aeromedical configurations including the ability to carry up to 40 stretchers
and three critical care patients are available as are simple vip passengers
despite being spread across the globe voyager remains home based in brise norton
one aircraft is always available in the falkland islands primarily to support typhoon qra jets but
also available for hercules other types operate regular air bridges to and from the falklands
voyager made a major contribution to operation shader dropping fuel to ref 35s and typhoons
and various coalition jets including the u.s marine corps harrier and f a18 hornet