{"id":71418,"date":"2025-06-18T05:27:39","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T05:27:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2025\/06\/18\/airbus-mulls-boosting-tanker-production-on-very-high-demand\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T16:06:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T16:06:48","slug":"airbus-mulls-boosting-tanker-production-on-very-high-demand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2025\/06\/18\/airbus-mulls-boosting-tanker-production-on-very-high-demand\/","title":{"rendered":"Airbus mulls boosting tanker production on \u2018very high\u2019 demand"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">PARIS \u2014 Airbus is considering raising production of its A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport aircraft in response to \u201cvery high\u201d demand from existing clients and potential new buyers, the company said at the Paris Air Show on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWith the signals we\u2019re getting from the customers, we are studying a rate increase of the MRTT,\u201d said Jean-Brice Dumont, head of air power at Airbus, in a press conference here. \u201cWhen I say study, it\u2019s more than studying.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Airbus currently produces between four and five A330 MRTT aircraft a year, and \u201cwe would have to significantly increase it,\u201d Dumont said. \u201cThe demand signal on the tankers is very high.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Europe faces critical capability shortfalls in air-to-air refueling, according to the European Defence Agency. Airbus had delivered 36 A330 MRTT aircraft to European customers by the end of April, with another six on order, compared to the United States operating a tanker fleet of more than 400 aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dumont estimates there may be a market for an additional ten to 20 of the planes in Europe, with further demand in the rest of the world, he told Defense News. The executive said the MRTT market is hard to gauge as \u201cit\u2019s quite dynamic,\u201d with demand \u201ccoming and coming.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark earlier this month signed a letter of intent to participate in NATO\u2019s European MRTT fleet. Denmark already in March <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/global\/europe\/2025\/03\/26\/denmark-signals-plan-to-join-european-air-refueling-pool-buy-tankers\/\" rel=\"\"><u>indicated plans<\/u><\/a> to join the European tanker pool, including the potential purchase of two MRTT aircraft, saying its participation would cost an estimated 7.4 billion Danish kroner ($1.1 billion) over 2025-2033.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Airbus is seeing interest from countries that want to participate in the European pool as well as existing individual customers that want to grow their fleet in the current security context, and also potential new clients, according to Dumont. \u201cA bit of everything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.K. is the biggest European operator of the A330 MRTT with 14 planes, while France operates 12 aircraft with another three on order. Six European countries including the Netherlands and Germany have pooled their tanker needs in the NATO multi-nation fleet, which operates nine aircraft with one more on order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere is a foreseeable increase of the pool, I think many countries are realizing, with a number of fighters or other aircraft they have that can be refueled, that they have a need for fast deployment,\u201d Dumont said. \u201cSo the pool is an answer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">International operators include Singapore, South Korea, Australia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Airbus says the A330 MRTT has a market share of more than 90% in air-to-air refueling aircraft outside the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Airbus faces a number of thresholds to ramp up tanker production that would entail investments to align tools and resolve industrial bottlenecks, Dumont said in the press conference. The executive said those thresholds might be at six aircraft a year and eight a year. \u201cAnd then we can go much higher, but that\u2019s another story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One question is whether Airbus has the hangars to accommodate higher output or would need to build new hangers or add production locations beyond the current ones. Dumont said. The company converts A330 aircraft assembled in France into tankers at its site in Getafe, south of Madrid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dumont said the company is close to signing the launch customer for the MRTT+, a new version based on the A330neo, with more fuel-efficient engines and an improved wing. The first MRTT+ is in production, with a target of delivering the plane by the end of 2028, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Airbus also presented new capabilities for its A400M transport aircraft, including an increase of the payload by 3 metric tons to 40 tons and the capability to function as a drone \u201cmothership\u201d or an electronic-warfare platform for stand-off jamming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe are testing dropping drones from an A400M, we are then controlling a drone from an A400M,\u201d Dumont said. \u201cThere is a question of mass saturation. How could the A400M play a role in saturation, in dropping a number of small vehicles as close as possible to the hostile contested area?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The A400M could also act as communications hub for Europe\u2019s planned sixth-generation Future Combat Air System, according to Airbus. The transport aircraft is already certified to be configured as a tanker, including for fighters such as the Eurofighter or Rafale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">France and Spain agreed to advance delivery of four and three ordered A400M aircraft, respectively, Airbus said. Phasing of the deliveries by customer countries was leading to a lower production rate than what Airbus considered sustainable, which is eight A400Ms aircraft per year, Dumont said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhat we have agreed with them is a mechanism that enables to fill these eight production slots with either a local aircraft or an export aircraft, and a sort of a swap mechanism when export comes,\u201d Dumont said. The production plan for the A400M is filled with eight aircraft a year until early 2029, the executive said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe could increase, but I think we prefer having a stable production system,\u201d Dumont said. With the first half of 2029 four years away, \u201cwhen we see the world as it is, I wouldn\u2019t panic with something four years from now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cWith the signals we\u2019re getting from the customers, we are studying a rate increase of the MRTT,\u201d said Jean-Brice Dumont, head of air power at 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