Purchase of three refuelling aircraft for Spanish Air Force approved by the Government

THE purchase of three Airbus A330-200 aircraft for the Spanish Air Force at a cost of €810 million has been approved by the Government

The Council of Ministers has today, Tuesday, September 21, followed up on an initiative whose financing and execution was approved last June, and approved the purchase of three multipurpose mid-air refuelling aircraft (MRTT), at an estimated cost of €810 million.

This will see the acquisition of three second-hand Airbus A330-200 aircraft from Iberia, that will subsequently be transformed into MRTT at the company’s facilities in the Madrid town of Getafe, and, as reported during today’s meeting, this purchase will enable the Air Force “to renew and enhance its capabilities for mobility and strategic projection of the Armed Forces in the fulfillment of the missions assigned to them in the field of in-flight refuelling, strategic air transport, and evacuations. high-capacity, long-distance health areas”.

Acquiring refuelling aircraft has long been one of the Spanish Air Force’s main priorities, after losing their Boeing 707s in 2016, and then again in 2020 when their Hercules aircraft were decommissioned, with the Executive stating this Summer that the purchase of MRTT aircraft meant “unavoidable investments in various special programs for the modernisation of the Air Force”.

Even the Ministry of Defense had pointed out that same day that “the lack of strategic air transport and in-flight refuelling is considered critical to be able to generate expeditionary area groups and to respond, both to contingency plans and national expeditionary operations, as well as to meet commitments with partners or allies”, as reported by larazon.es.