Airbus has entered an agreement with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF )to develop an automatic air-to-air refuelling capability for KC-30A tanker. Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Leo Davies signed the agreement with Airbus DS boss Fernando Alonso at the 2017 Australian International Air show at Avalon.

The agreement will see an RAAF aircraft involved in the testing of the system, which has been under development by Airbus DS for some time.

The project aims to develop an automatic refuelling capability for the KC-30's aerial refuelling boom system in two years.  Airbus attributes strategic importance to that capacity as it is one of four strategies in Airbus DS’s program for a smarter multirole tanker in order to increase the capability of the aircraft without major modifications.