Flight Refuelling Ltd (FRL), part of the Cobham Air Refuelling & Auxiliary Mission Equipment division has delivered the first 4 ship sets of their air refuelling probe for the F-35 Lightning II (Joint Strike Fighter) to Parker Air & Fuel Division. The delivery was on time to an accelerated schedule agreed with Parker who, together with BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin, expressed their thanks for FRL's efforts in meeting the schedule.

The refuelling probe is contained inside the aircraft behind two opening doors and is attached to a deployment mechanism, which allows the probe to swing out from the aircraft to the deployed position to enable the nozzle to engage with a drogue for refuelling. At a length of 5.5 feet and consisting mainly of bespoke designed aluminium alloy parts, the probe will be used on both the STOVL and Carrier variants of the F-35.

A further two shipsets will be delivered shortly and FRL is now working towards the Safety of Flight Clearance planned for November 2007. FRL has a current order for 10 shipsets and based on latest forecasts, there is a market for approximately 900 F-35 refuelling probes over the next 20 years.

Richard Tyson, Managing Director, Cobham Air Refuelling & Auxiliary Mission Equipment, said,

"This is a important milestone in the development of Cobham's refuelling probe portfolio. We are proud to be providing such a key capability to the world's largest fighter programme and can offer innovative refuelling probe solutions on other fast jet and rotorcraft platforms"