NATO will launch a strategic airlift fleet of Airbus A400M transport planes and add one aircraft to its existing fleet of A330 MRTT tanker planes, Secretary General Mark Rutte said on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Ankara on Tuesday.
NATO Expansion
The MRTT project has nine A330s, which can double as troop or passenger aircraft, based at Eindhoven, Netherlands. By adding another tanker, the military alliance will move closer to plugging gaps left in its defence plans after the United States reduced its contributions.
NATO is seeking to expand the fleet to 12 in the longer run. Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden participate in the programme.
Airbus, which builds both the A400M airlifter and the A330 jet on which the tanker is based, said the shared A400M fleet would involve Belgium, Britain, France, Spain, Turkey, Croatia, and Poland.
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
