X-47B receives fuel from an Omega K-707 tanker while operating in the Atlantic Test Ranges

Omega Aerial Refueling Services Incorporated is an American aviation company that provides

aerial refueling Aerial refueling ( en-us), or aerial refuelling ( en-gb), also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the tanker) to an ...

services for military customers.

History

Omega developed the first commercial aerial refueling aircraft in 1999 and has provided aerial refueling services under contract to the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

since 2001. The company has also been engaged to support

Royal Australian Air Force The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal Air force, aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the Governor-Gener ...

training exercises due to delays in delivery of KC-30A tankers. In addition, Omega Air Refueling states it has been contracted to support deployments by the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

and the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; ) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environmental commands within the unified Can ...

. In October 2011, the company took delivery of three additional Boeing 707-338Cs from the Royal Australian Air Force. On April 22, 2015, one of Omega's KC-707s refueled a Northrop Grumman X-47B. The US Navy told the media this was the first time an

unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Dron ...

had been refueled in flight. In November 2019, it was announced that two KDC-10 Tankers from the

Royal Netherlands Air Force The Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF; , "Royal Air Force") is the military aviation branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. It was created in 1953 to succeed its predecessor, the ''Luchtvaartafdeling'' () of the Dutch Army, which was founded ...

would be acquired, and as such additional capacity would be added, including ' boom capability' in addition to the existing ' hose and drogue' of the existing fleet. The aircraft were bought in 1995 by the RNLAF from

Martinair Martinair (legally ''Martinair Holland N.V.'') is a Dutch cargo and former passenger airline headquartered and based at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. The airline was founded in 1958 by Martin Schröder (aviator), Martin Schröder, and is currently ...

civilian A civilian is a person who is not a member of an armed force. It is war crime, illegal under the law of armed conflict to target civilians with military attacks, along with numerous other considerations for civilians during times of war. If a civi ...

DC-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 was intended to succeed the DC-8 for long-range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; it was introduced on August 5, 1971 ...

passenger A passenger is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. The vehicles may be bicycles, ...

airliners. The planes were converted to

tanker aircraft This is a list of tanker aircraft used for aerial refuelling of another aircraft while in powered flight. Refueling methods ;Looped hose: The first commercial method employed a hose which was held slack in a trailing half-loop behind both airc ...

. Because the planes were getting older and the RNLAF bought two A330 MRTT from

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

, they sold their older tankers to Omega Air Refueling. The first of the two tankers that were sold, T-264 Prins Bernard, departed on Monday, November 4, 2019, from Eindhoven Air Base in the Netherlands.

Fleet

, Omega Aerial Refueling Services operates the following aircraft: Omega currently operates 2 converted Boeing KC-707-338Cs (N707MQ and N707GF) and 2 converted McDonnell Douglas KDC-10s (N974VV and N264DE). 2 KDC-10-40s (N141WE and N823VV) and 1 KDC-10-30 (N235UL) are stored.

Accidents and incidents

*On May 18, 2011, Omega Aerial Refueling Services Flight 70, a Boeing KC-707 tanker (registered as N707AR) was destroyed after it crashed on takeoff from

Naval Base Ventura County Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC) is a United States Navy base in Ventura County, California. Formed by the merger of Naval Air Station Point Mugu, NAS Point Mugu and Naval Construction Battalion Center Port Hueneme, CBC Port Hueneme, NBVC is a d ...

in California. All three crew members survived.

References

External links

* Air refueling Aerospace companies of the United States {{US-airline-stub