Airbus Defence & Space’s next multi-role tanker transport (MRTT) customer will be the first to acquire the capability integrated with the A330-800 airframe, with deliveries expected from late this decade.
Formally launched as the A330 MRTT+ at the Farnborough air show on 23 July, “it is an evolution to meet the market demand,” says Airbus’s head of air power Jean-Brice Dumont.
“This evolution has been looking natural for a while,” he says. “With the Neo version, we can bring the MRTT to the next level of performance.”
Airbus’s MRTT journey can be traced back to 2003, when it started development work on an advanced refuelling boom system, first flown on an A310 testbed in 2007. Launch operator the Royal Australian Air Force introduced the A330-200-based type in 2011.
Switching to the Neo model will deliver multiple benefits to operators, Airbus says. These include increased fuel efficiency thanks to the type’s all-new wing and Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines, along with extended range performance.
Maria Angeles Marti, head of the MRTT programme, says the new version will deliver an 8% fuel efficiency improvement over the -200-derived model in current use.
While it will retain the same 111t in-wing fuel capacity as the current model, Marti says the extra efficiency will allow operators “to either refuel more [aircraft], or reach farther” during sorties.
Airbus claims that its MRTT+ will boast a 41% range advantage over the smaller Boeing KC-46A.
“We believe there is a significant market ahead of us,” says Dumont, who identifies demand as coming from the Middle East, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. “There are still orders to come, and we see that through the number of discussions we are having with customers, particularly now on the MRTT+.”
Dumont notes that Airbus launched the original A330 MRTT with a sales ambition of 25 units, but that it has to date secured firm commitments for 82, for use by 15 nations. Sixty of the aircraft have been delivered to date, with the global fleet having amassed over a combined 300,000 flying hours.
“We have definitely exceeded our expectations,” he says, with Airbus claiming a 90% market share for tanker customers within the last decade, excluding the USA. “It is due to the unrivalled technical performance,” he adds.
Saudi Arabia recently signed a follow-on deal to take four more MRTTs, while Canada is to field nine – including several secondhand examples to be modified following airline service.
“To continue being there, we need to continue improving and innovating,” Marti says of the company’s market position. The MRTT+ will be offered with enhanced connectivity and Airbus’s A3R autonomous boom capability as a baseline standard, and its ambition is to in time expand this to an A4R level “with full control of the [boom refuelling] operation”.
Dumont tells FlightGlobal that Airbus will not need to develop a prototype aircraft to support future certification of the MRTT+, with this activity to be performed using a customer aircraft.
“We are confident that the wing will have the right behaviour to preserve the performance of the hose and drogue [refuelling pods] operation,” Marti says, with simulation work having already been performed.
Airbus says the A330neo and its earlier model share 95% parts commonality, with MRTT operators also to benefit in areas including training and support.
“We have customers waiting, and customers in a hurry,” Dumont says, adding that the company will need to begin work on an aircraft “rather soon”. “The level of risk is not such that we would need to go with a prototype or a technology demonstration,” he says.
“We will launch the aircraft together with a customer agreement.” Asked when the new model is likely to enter service, he says: “Nothing is frozen at the moment, but many customers have expectations before the end of the decade.”
