It’s been a hot summer in PZL and not only due to the unusually high temperatures in Warsaw.
As strategic programs such as CCRT, JUICE and Orlik SB209 reached important milestones, our teams have been working hard to deliver on our commitments.
A hot summer
CCRT
The Cargo Compartment Removable Tanks (CCRTs) are additional fuel tanks that can be loaded inside the cabin of the C295 transport aircraft using a pallet. They are part of a removable refuelling kit that transforms this already versatile aircraft into a tanker. This kit is available as an option and allows the C295 to perform in-flight refuelling of other aircraft, helicopters or even UAVs.
PZL is responsible for the design and manufacturing of the CCRTs. In July we passed successfully the critical design review, where our engineering team proved that the design proposed by PZL fulfils all the technical requirements.
We could then move on to start building the first prototype. Over the summer we started the manufacturing and performed the first fit check to test the interfaces with the aircraft. The prototype will ship to Spain later this year for rigorous testing on ground and in flight.
More about the C295 air-to-air refuelling variant in the C295 official site.
JUICE
The Jupiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) is a groundbreaking ESA scientific mission to explore planet Jupiter and its moons. PZL produces the electrical harnesses of this interplanetary spacecraft.
The launch window for this mission in June 2022 is determined by the relative position of Earth and Jupiter and waits for no one… The critical schedule of this program was at stake, and our space team put an outstanding effort this summer, working 24/7 to protect it.
And they did it! The harnesses were carefully assembled inside our ISO8 clean room, the biggest of its kind in Poland. They passed successfully the strict quality checks. Finally, they were shipped to Toulouse on time to be installed on a full-size prototype spacecraft that will be tested under the extreme environmental conditions expected during the mission. After the design is proved beyond doubt, the flight model – the spacecraft that will actually go into space – will be built.
More about Juice in the ESA website and you can also follow them on twitter.
Orlik SB209
Finally Service Bulletin 209 is a complete upgrade of the avionics of our flagship product, the PZL-130 Orlik TC-II Advanced, requested in early 2017 by the Polish Air Force. Our team has been working hard through the holiday period to secure the first deliveries.
The Polish Air Force received in August the first modified aircraft, serial number 048, on time to proudly display it during the international Radom Airshow. In the meantime, deliveries have continued and today our customer has already received five units, fully renovated, and waiting to receive the new cadets that will start their training this year at Radom Air Base.
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