AMSTERDAM: The Netherlands, Norway, and Poland will send a request for proposal (RfP) to Airbus to buy A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft within a matter of weeks, according to officials close to the issue.
Since the platforms will be identical to one another, the forthcoming negotiations “will be all about price”, they said.
We know the numbers and expect to see a reasonable offer. This has to be affordable: the flight costs have to be low,” said Johan Van Soest, commander of Eindhoven’s military airfield in the Netherlands, which will be the MRTTs’ main operating base. “If they [Airbus] come back with too great a price differential versus what Boeing could offer with the KC-10, then we can always go for a KC family of 4-5 tankers and some cargo aircraft. That’s a second-best choice but if it’s lower in cost, then we’ll consider that option. But it’s really to Airbus’ advantage to make a deal because this involves all the through-life work as well.”
Van Soest and others spoke to reporters at Eindhoven on 23 April as a two-week international air-to-air refuelling exercise came to a close. The four-nation event was sponsored by the European Defence Agency (EDA) and the European Air Transport Command (EATC), based at the airfield, to practice handling the diversity of refuelling methods that the nations use. The future MRTTs will be kitted out with both boom and probe-and-drogue refuelling systems to avoid interoperability problems.
The Netherlands, Norway, and Poland will form the launch nations for jointly purchasing three to four MRTTs for delivery starting in May 2019, with an option for up to eight. Forward-operating bases will be set up in Norway and Poland.
The trio and the EDA, which has sponsored the procurement project, are hoping other nations will join the effort since Eindhoven has plenty of room. It currently has space for eight MRTTs, “and if we get more than that, then we’ll just need to pour some more concrete,” Van Soest said.
The EDA’s MRTT project dates back to a March 2012 when originally 10 EDA nations aimed to jointly buy the capability. But Europe’s deepening financial crisis and the difficulty of aligning the nations’ programmes and budget cycles saw the other seven drift away.
However, Belgium is now back and considering rejoining the programme, though it would not invest in aircraft. Instead, it is looking at buying around 600 hours’ worth of flying time – roughly half the cost of a single MRTT. Its hours “would come in at a somewhat higher cost than for the rest of us since they wouldn’t be investing directly in the programme, but Belgium’s cost would be spread over a long period,” observed Van Soest.
EDA officials at the briefing said the RfP will go to Airbus “within two weeks”, or early May, with a contract to be signed in early 2016. Initial operating capability is scheduled for mid-2020, followed by full operating capability a year later.
Getting all legal arrangements lined up for the purchase has been a major inter-institutional endeavour, said one EU official.
