NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has welcomed the launch of a Multinational Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft fleet, now ready for a full range of missions, at Eindhoven Air Base in the Netherlands.
Stoltenberg attended a ceremony marking the initial operational capability of the aircraft fleet, joined by Dutch Minister of Defence Kajsa Ollongren, European Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton, and officials from the five other participating nations: Belgium, Czechia, Germany, Luxembourg, and Norway.
Stoltenberg stated, “These aircraft will provide us with world-class air-to-air refuelling, air transport, and air medical evacuation capabilities. Tanker aircraft are the backbone of Allied air power.”
He added that the fleet has already proven its value since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, helping protect NATO’s eastern flank.
In the past year, the MRTT fleet has flown over 500 missions, refuelling hundreds of NATO fighter jets to ensure the safety of Allied airspace.
The aircraft have also been instrumental in evacuating civilians and refugees from Afghanistan, participating in exercises with key NATO partners such as Australia in the Indo-Pacific, and later this year, they are slated to deploy to the Middle East to support operations against Islamic State
The Airbus A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) is a versatile military aircraft designed for air-to-air refuelling, cargo transport, and medical evacuation missions. Developed from the Airbus A330 commercial airliner, the A330 MRTT has been customised to meet the demands of military operations.
You can read more on this here.
Perhaps it’s finally time for us to look to fit the boom refueling system to our A330’s as well. Also may be a good idea to purchase and the AAR kits for the A400M’s as well to be used as an additional back up reserve. If things kick off with China we will need every tanker we can get and the US tanker fleet is in an awful state. It’s almost unusable and Boeings 767 tanker has just made that even worse with delays and over runs. Thank god we dodged that Bullet. The US desperately needs the A330 tanker… Read more »
Can our fleet be retrofitted for boom operation? And would this be cost effective and of value?
Haven’t the US recently developed a pod mounted boom?
Would seem an option for our Voyagers.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/podded-aerial-refueling-boom-design-has-been-completed-for-air-force
Yes they have
Yes it could, the A330 MRTT comes with a boom option, we have a centre line drouge instead but nothing to stop a boom being fitted or retrofitted.
https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/aircraft-propulsion/airbus-developing-removable-refueling-boom-mrtt
Except money!!!!
Wouldn’t a wing mounted boom pod be a better option?
Should be cheaper than a conversion, always assuming that something as large as a P8 or RC135 could tank from a wing pod ofc.
Looked at and it was expensive, for the amount of use that the RAF Needed, also it would them open the UKs fleet to support the rest of europe that is only just getting its tankers upto spec.
If the US tanker fleet is “almost unusable” how does the US Air Force continue to support a global flying mission unmatched by any other Air Force in the history of airpower while planning to cut its tanker fleet by 15%? The last thing the USAF needs is the A330 tanker. It recognizes that what it needs is a future tanker that is survivable in a peer-on-peer conflict. It recognizes that all tankers, including the A330, are not survivable which is why it is focusing on a future tanker that is survivable.
Because it has over 400 tankers which is an insanely large number relative to the number of aircraft the USAF has, with a fleet that large you can paper over cracks in peace time when it comes to availability rates. Most of those tankers will soon be 70 years old. The KC46 program has been an unmitigated disaster in terms of capability and time to delivery as well as numbers being procured. There is no actual plan to replace the KC135 except for the usual US plan of the KC-Z, the stealth bomber of air to air refueling tankers which… Read more »
If you hardly have any aircraft to tank you can get by with a few rental tankers. If you’re going to be a real player that’s not going to work.
Here he is, been a while since you posted your sad rhetoric. My fav little US fanboy.
😀
Note the little digs…
Hardly any AC…tick!
Rental Tankers….tick!
In other words, the UK and anyone else who are not the US are nobodies….tick!
Always the same sad repetitive nonsense mate. 👍
Do you think the possibility of the Voyagers/A400 being used to refuel allied aircraft has crossed his mind? Or am I being too generous?
The latter !
has anybody told the US who already extensively hire private air refueling contractors (btw they want more)? http://www.omegaairrefueling.com
The A400’s can’t be fitted with any AAR Equipment, it brings up issues with the T&C’s of the AirTanker Contract.
It can be fitted and you can train with it but if you transfer fuel you have to pay airtanker.
What a bunch of irrelevant jingoistic codswallop. Your knee-jerk anti-Americanism is really tiresome and laughable. The fact is that the US is operating the largest tanker refueling operation of anyone in the world, has been doing it successfully for over 70 years, and will continue to do it for another 70 years. And they have done it, and will continue to do it, without taking your “expert” opinions into consideration. The UK is not a global power and hasn’t been for 30 years so any comparison to the US’AFs responsibilities and mission just demonstrates your jingoistic ignorance.
I realise the conversations on UK defence journal can be a bit technical for some people and they can’t really add anything to the debate so they just hurl insults around but we could all do with out you wasting our time.
Do you have anything to add to the debate or do you just want hurl around insults?
Honestly I’m not sure why you bother typing anything if you don’t have anything worth saying.
Daniel – on what basis do you claim that the UK is not a global power and has not been for 30 years? Have you simply observed that our armed forces are smaller than they once were, as everyone elses have too?
USA is Great at arriving Late, Needs Helps from Others and Leaves early with its Ball, when its not going there way. every conflict in its very short History, due to amount of Cowards that fled to that Great big wide open space.
The US has a car perfect system of air tankers in national guard/ reserve squadrons. They have huge numbers that do nothing but train and put very few hours on the air frames. The active duty squadrons are focused on very intensive flying of combat aircraft.
Aircraft lives are measured in hours, look at the B-52.
The Issue was Looked at previously and the Cost is restrictive. adapting a airframe for drogue and baskets is fairly easy. Boom opps is something RAF have never done. RAF don’t own the Voyager Fleet either and comes under Air Tanker. that contract while it has some limitations is actually quite successful. and at the Time when they needed new Tankers the Boom system on the Aussie MRRTs kept leaving at a alarming rate. The other consideration, is that NATO partners could call on the Voyager rather than update there own fleet, and would trigger the next step in the… Read more »
Yer hyperlink isnae working hen
English please.
I take it your irony plug-in needs a software update?
It might help to know the size of this fleet and how many ac were put forward by each of the 5 participating countries.
I think they are shared
Just checked again, seven Aircraft in service, two more will be in service in 2024 and a another one will be in service in 2026. shared fleet
Issue is the total is 9 eventually for 5 Nations to share when the UK Has 9 and 5 surge.
Imagine if the UK Fleet had Booms. they would never be available for the RAF.