In August 2016, NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) approached NCS on behalf of their military customer asking for airlift-based mission support. NATO allied troops in a Forward Operating Base in Afghanistan were becoming besieged by insurgents, who had cratered roads and installed checkpoints to stop the ground transportation of supplies, including fuel.
It took NCS only 21 days from the requirement was formally notified to the first delivery was made to the NATO forces in the base.
Based on NCS’ inhouse operational experience and logistics setup in Afghanistan, multiple methods of getting fuel into the base by aircraft were quickly assessed, and planning and execution started. NCS needed to fly in at least 40,000 litres per day to keep the camp going, and then a similar volume to start to rebuild reserves.
The ABFDS unit was prepared by NCS subcontractor selected for their vast experience in these types of operations. During the first years of operation, over 20,000,000 litres have been delivered to the besieged base based on military grade fuel loaded at NATO Airfield by NCS staff and refuel trucks.
ABFDS
AirBorne Fuel Delivery System
Airframe
The ABFDS is standardized to fit in any IL76 and operates independently of the aircraft’s fuel systems
Capacity
The system carries a deliverable load of 37,000 liters per flight
Operation
Total delivery point time on ground including delivery is 80 minutes between wheels touchdown and aircraft departure.
Refuelling
Hosting IL-76 aircraft is refueled simultaneously to the ABFDS with a second truck to reduce turnaround time. Wing tanks and ABFDS are not connected in
