politics
Seven NATO Allies Launch Shared A400M Transport Aircraft Project
Belgium, Croatia, France, Poland, Spain, Türkiye and the United Kingdom started a multinational Airbus A400M project on July 7. Finland also joined the existing MRTT tanker fleet, which will soon receive its tenth aircraft.
Jul 7, 4:38 AM·1m read1 source
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Seven NATO Allies launched a new multinational project on Tuesday to acquire a shared fleet of Airbus A400M military transport aircraft. The announcement came at the NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum in Ankara, Türkiye. Belgium, Croatia, France, Poland, Spain, Türkiye and the United Kingdom signed on to the High Visibility Project, which will follow the pooling and sharing model already used by the multinational Airbus A330 Multirole Tanker Transport fleet.
Finland joined the Multinational Multi-Role Tanker Transport Fleet at the same time. The nine current MRTT members—Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden—said the tenth A330 MRTT aircraft will be delivered soon. The fleet is planned to reach a total of 12 aircraft.
The A400M aircraft offers high payload and long-range performance that allows access to locations many larger planes cannot reach. Both the A400M and A330 MRTT fleets provide air-to-air refuelling, strategic airlift and medical evacuation capabilities. Participating countries can cooperate on joint procurement, logistical support or training under the new A400M arrangement.
The initiative builds on the MRTT fleet, which received its first aircraft in 2020.
