LE BOURGET—Airbus is planning a “seamless” transition in both production and conversion of its A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) to the new A330-800-based MRTT+.
With a sale of the last two A330-200-derived MRTTs imminent, the airframer plans to wrap up certification of the first complete MRTT+ in the second half of 2028, enabling first deliveries in 2029.
No customer has yet signed up for the aircraft, but one A330-800, also known as the A330neo, has been allocated to the MRTT program.
“We are working at full speed,” Maria Angeles Marti Martinez, Airbus Defense and Space’s head of Tanker, Transport and Mission Programs, told Aviation Week on June 16 as the Paris Air Show opened its doors.
“We want to ensure that we reach the market in a seamless manner,” she says. “We truly believe this is the aircraft that the market is demanding, and we see a big demand from many corners around the world.”
The company launched studies into the potential of an A330neo-based MRTT in 2023 with a particular focus on whether the new wing of the Neo would be able to accommodate the hose-drogue units (HDU). On the Neo-derived MRTT, these HDUs are fitted to the pylons where the outboard engines would have been placed on the Airbus A340-200/300, as that version of the A340 shared the same wing as the A330. Computer modeling has determined that with the HDU pod fitted in a similar location on the wing as on the current MRTT, there was no difference in the behavior of the pod during extension and retraction of the hose and drogue.
No adverse flutter or buffet effects have been observed from this during testing, and engineers expect there to be no impact on receiver clearances, paving the way for the MRTT+ to refuel all the aircraft that the existing MRTT is already cleared to refuel.
“We may need to take care of some reinforcements, but this will not dramatically change the way we do the conversion,” Martinez adds. “That will preserve the military solution we have today with the Neo, bringing the same capability but with an improved platform that will give us more opportunities to continue expanding the capabilities further for the coming years.”
Meanwhile, development of the MRTT’s Automatic Air-to-Air Refueling (A3R) capability is continuing. Working with the Republic of Singapore Air Force, Airbus has already certified automatic boom refueling in daylight, and now the company has finished flight testing to support certification of the A3R system at night, with certification expected later this year.
In a next step, Airbus is exploring the potential of A3R with the hose-drogue pods through an initiative with the European Defense Agency. Work is currently at a low technology readiness level, Martinez says, but the aim is to create a refueling hose and drogue system that can be stabilized when deployed.
“We have already found potential solutions to make that happen,” Martinez says. “We are testing this solution in wind tunnel tests, and we are quite optimistic about finding a good solution of stability, and that will give us a step to move toward A3R for the hose and drogue operation.”
Martinez says the outlook for additional MRTTs is strong. Currently, the company has a backlog of MRTT conversions through to 2029 with aircraft for Canada, NATO and Saudi Arabia.
“We can see that we will maybe have to raise the rate in the coming years,” Martinez says.
“We have a quite interesting pipeline of potential contracts in the coming months and years, so that, I hope, will keep the line busy beyond 2029,” she adds.
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