Story ID: 11-2014-4 New French Tankers
France Confirms a Dozen Airbus Tankers
By: Chris Pocock
Caption: The aircraft will replace 14 (K)C-135FR tankers in the French air force from 2018, at a rate of one or two per year.
Word Count: 253
Airbus Defence & Space has completed negotiations with the French defense procurement agency for the sale of 12 A330MRTT tankers. No value was given for the deal, which was expected but has been long delayed for budget reasons. The aircraft will replace 14 (K)C-135FR tankers in the French air force beginning in 2018, but at a slow rate of only one or two deliveries per year.

Eight countries have now selected the A330MRTT, and Airbus D&S notes that the type has won “every major tanker aircraft procurement competition outside the U.S. since it entered the market.” This statement discounts Brazil, which has bought two Boeing 767 tanker conversions from IAI but elected to meet the bulk of its requirement with the indigenous KC-390. The other recent wins for Airbus D&S were in India (six), Qatar (two) and Singapore (six). Contracts have not yet been signed with Qatar or India, where a 30-percent offset is required. Australia, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the UK have already received aircraft. The order book now has signatures for 54 aircraft.

The A330MRTT is also the obvious candidate in an evaluation led by the Netherlands, for a pooled European multinational tanker fleet. This initiative by the European Defence Agency (EDA) is supposed to progress to a contract award in the middle of next year. In late 2012 ten nations signed a letter of intent to participate: Belgium, Greece, Spain, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal and France.