Private company Metrea performed the first commercial-based aerial refueling on a pair of Navy P-8A Poseidon aircraft earlier this month.
On Tuesday, the company said it used one of its Metrea Strategic Mobility division KC-135R aircraft to perform boom aerial refueling of the two Poseidons over a four-hour period on April 17.
Metrea noted it is the only company that owns and operates a fleet of KC-135Rs, offering air-to-air refueling service that can integrate with military aviation training and operations.
“This is a major milestone in the 100-year history of air-to-air refueling. A commercial tanker has never done this before,” Jon Thomas, head of Metrea’s Air and Space Group, said in a statement.
Thomas said this came after teaming with the Navy, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) and the particular P-8 unit.
He argued this “is a testament to the significant value commercial tankers present to augment national military tanker fleets.”
Thomas said the company hopes to next make boom refueling contracts with a U.S. Air Force and foreign air force receivers.
“There is more history to be made here.”
Metrea has offered these kinds of aircraft services since starting a NAVAIR contract in late 2021. The company said thus far it has flown over 130,000 flying hours without accidents and had a mission reliability rate of 93 percent. Metrea has flown in in support of the U.S., U.K., and other unspecified allied partner country national security objectives.
Metrea’s aircraft have two wing-mounted Multi-Point Refueling System (MPRS) pods to conduct refueling with probe equipped Navy, Marine Corps and partner nation aircraft. They also come equipped with an air refueling boom to refuel receptacle equipped receivers, like the Navy P-8s and Air Force aircraft.
Metrea focuses on providing effects-as-a-service to national security clients in areas including airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR); electronic warfare; communications; space-based ISR and advanced simulation.
The company’s Metrea Strategic Mobility business unit that conducted the refueling is headquartered in Temecula, Calif.