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NATO's Multinational MRTT Fleet (MMF) grows to ten aircraft [1]

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Date: 2023-03 

Luxembourg, 28 March 2023 – The NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) has formally ordered an additional Airbus A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT), increasing NATO's Multinational MRTT Fleet (MMF) to 10 aircraft.





This announcement follows Belgium's decision to increase its number of hours in the programme to 2,100 through the STAR plan (Security & Service, Technology, Ambition, and Resilience) approved in 2022 by the Belgian government.





Belgium joined the MMF Programme at the beginning of 2018, with an initial annual quota of 1,000 hours.





The Multinational Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) Fleet (MMF) provides strategic transport, air-to-air refueling and medical evacuation capabilities to its six participating nations: Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Luxembourg, The Netherlands and Norway. Seven aircraft in the Fleet are already in service. Two aircraft are expected to be delivered in 2024, while the tenth aircraft will be delivered at the end of 2026.





The Multinational MRTT Fleet (MMF) stands out as a unique example of effective cooperation between NATO and the European Union in delivering critical capabilities. The programme is based on a pooling and sharing concept, laid down in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), in which the participating nations pool the aircraft and share costs while benefiting from economies of scale.





The fleet is owned by NATO and managed by the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA). NSPA provides this support to participating nations through its Multinational Multi Role Tanker Transport Fleet Support Partnership.





The fleet is operated by the Multinational Multirole Tanker Transport Unit (MMU), comprising of military personnel from the participating countries. The unit is based at the Main Operating Base (MOB) in Eindhoven (the Netherlands) and the Forward Operating Base (FOB) in Cologne (Germany).





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[1] Url: https://shape.nato.int/news-archive/2023/natos-multinational-mrtt-fleet-grows-to-ten-aircraft.aspx

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