NATO Allies Accelerate Multinational Fleets

Following the success of the Multinational MRTT Fleet (MMF), which provides strategic tanker/transport capability for its participants, a group of seven NATO nations has announced a High Visibility Project to create a similar organization to address strategic airlift shortfalls among alliance members.

Unveiled earlier this month at the NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum held in Ankara, Türkiye, the program would be based on the Airbus A400M. The initiative is being proposed by Belgium, Croatia, France, Poland, Spain, Türkiye, and the UK. Of these nations, only Croatia and Poland are not current operators of the A400M.

As with the MMF, the multinational airlift proposal is based on the pooling and sharing of all aspects of the operation. This includes a jointly owned aircraft fleet, as well as multinational training, maintenance, infrastructure, and procurement. The end-to-end solution is designed to ensure that national and NATO requirements are fulfilled, while at the same time increasing operational flexibility. The latter includes improved provision for secondary roles such as firefighting, inflight refueling, medical evacuation, and disaster relief.

More than 135 A400Ms are now in service, and the type has become the backbone of air mobility capacity among the larger European air forces.

At the same forum, 11 NATO allies announced that they had selected Saab’s GlobalEye to equip a multinational airborne early warning fleet that will partially replace NATO’s aging Boeing E-3 Sentries, with a purchase of around 10 thought likely. The nations involved in the GlobalEye coalition are Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, and Sweden.

In addition to providing improved aerial surveillance capability, the GlobalEye introduces expanded multi-domain capabilities and networked operations. France has independently ordered two GlobalEyes (plus two options), and their operations would likely be integrated to some extent with those of the multinational force, as is already the case with France’s E-3s.

These announcements show Europe’s determination to improve its defensive capabilities, with the U.S. not involved in either of the above programs, although it remains a contributor to the existing NATO AEW Force and also to the multinational Heavy Airlift Wing. The latter is a coalition of 12 NATO allies that share three Boeing C-17 strategic airlifters based in Pápa, Hungary. The HAW operates outside of NATO, the EU, or other alliance command, its operations being controlled by the Strategic Airlift Capability program that was formulated within a broad NATO framework in the 2000s.

In the meantime, the MMF also continues to grow. The current fleet of nine Airbus A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transports is to grow to 12 following the addition of new participating nations. The original group of six—Belgium, Czechia, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Norway—was joined by Denmark and Sweden in 2025, while at the Ankara summit this month, Finland was announced as the latest member. As well as providing air-to-air refueling and troop/cargo transport in support of deployments, the MMF’s A330s have also been used for evacuation operations.