Airbus A330

The European Defence Agency (EDA) has kicked-off a new research project, led by Spain and in collaboration with Germany, to develop an automatic air-to-air refuelling (A3R) operation with the hose and drogue system. The two-year EDA project which has a budget of €4 million, will involve an industry consortium of Airbus Defence and Space (Spain and Germany), GMV, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and AES Technology (Germany). A limited number of flight tests will be carried out in 2024 with an Airbus A330 MRTT tanker and Tornado aircraft provided by the two participating countries.

A key asset for European strategic autonomy

Air, EU, NATO / By Defence Industry Europe

The MMF initiative comprises six European nations who share costs proportionally according to the national commitment of flight hours per year defined in the Memorandum of Understanding.

On 27 and 29 July 2022, the sixth and seventh A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft of the Multinational MRTT Fleet (MMF) were delivered to the Unit, at its Main Operating Base in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

NSPA delivers sixth and seventh aircraft to the Multinational MRTT Unit

Air / By Defence Industry Europe

The ownership of the aircraft was transferred from Airbus Defence and Space to OCCAR on behalf of the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA), who manages the fleet for the MMF nations.