Visualization pioneer Barco is proud to announce that the first Airbus Military A330 MRTT, equipped with Barco's avionics displays, has been officially handed over to the Royal Australian Air Force. The new military Airbus – the first in a series of five Airbus aircraft for the Royal Australian Air Force – was officially delivered on 1 June. In total, Airbus has already received orders for 28 A330 MRTT aircraft.

The Airbus A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) is an aerial refueling tanker aircraft based on the civilian Airbus A330-200. The A330 MRTT's cockpits are equipped with Barco's CHDD-268 Cockpit Head Down touch screen displays and Barco's PU-2000 multi-capability processing units.

"This is a very major and long-awaited milestone for the A330 MRTT program," said Airbus Military CEO Domingo Ureña. "I wish to congratulate and thank all of our world-class suppliers. They have been working extremely hard to develop, test and certify this brand-new multi-role tanker and transport aircraft, which really is the '21st Century benchmark' in its category. The Barco CHDD-268 touch screen display is a high-brightness, sunlight-readable cockpit display that offers our pilots excellent contrast and very wide viewing angles."

The A330 MRTT is the result of an extensive development and testing program. "The delivery of the first A330 MRTT to the Royal Australian Air Force is another milestone in Barco's avionics business," says Steven Luys, Director Strategic Marketing for Barco's Avionics division. "The Airbus A330 MRTT is the only new-generation strategic tanker/transport military aircraft available today. Now that the first unit has been officially delivered, we are very excited to see it demonstrate its power in live operations."

The CHDD-268 is an advanced, very compact 6x8 inch avionics display that accepts both digital video input (DVI) and input from most of the currently available analog video devices (Composite, RGB, STANAG, ...). Equipped with a sunlight-readable Active Matrix Liquid Crystal Display (AMLCD) and LED backlight technology, the CHDD-268 provides exceptionally high brightness, excellent contrast, and a very wide viewing angle in all directions. The display allows the same unit to be used in portrait as well as landscape mode.

The Airbus A330 MRTT received its supplemental type certificate from EASA (the European civil aviation safety authority) in March 2010 and its military certification from the Spanish space agency INTA in October 2010. Its large basic fuel capacity enables the A330 MRTT to excel in Air-to-Air Refueling missions without any additional fuel tank. In addition, the A330 MRTT can also be used as a pure transport aircraft, carrying up to 300 troops, or it can easily be converted to accommodate up to 130 stretchers for medical evacuation (MEDEVAC).