T-056 Arrival Airbus A330 MRTT @Eindhoven in Darkness

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On Thursday November 19, 2020, the third Airbus A330 MRTT Tanker was delivered to Eindhoven Air Base in the early evening. The third aircraft arrived in the darkness at the southern air base after a flight of more than 2 hours from Getafe near Madrid where the aircraft was qualified. The Airbus is part of the "Multinational MRTT Unit" (MMU) which is based at Eindhoven Air Base with a forward post in Cologne-Bonn in Germany. The unit is the umbrella unit that will deploy the tanker aircraft for the partner countries. The Netherlands, together with NATO partners Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Norway and the Czech Republic, are purchasing nine Airbus A330 MRTT refueling aircraft. Six of these aircraft will be stationed at Eindhoven Air Base, the remaining three will be based at Cologne-Bonn Airport in Germany. This third Airbus is the first of the series destined for Cologne-Bonn in Germany. The aircraft is the first in a series of three that will replace the Airbus A310 MRTT within the German Luftwaffe. It is remarkable that the three planes for Cologne-Bonn will have a different configuration than the planes in Eindhoven. In addition to the standard MRTT tasks, the German aircraft will also be equipped for the Medical Evacuation Role (MEDEVAC). To equip the aircraft for this role, an upgrade set can be built into the standard A330 MRTT aircraft. The aircraft will first be qualified at Eindhoven in the coming period before the aircraft will depart for its operational home base in Germany.

The Royal Netherlands Air Force initially planned to purchase the Airbus A330 MRTT aircraft to replace the two obsolete McDonnell Douglas KDC-10s at Eindhoven Air Base. From this plan arose the initiative of the European Defense Agency for the establishment of a European cooperation for tanker aircraft. In November 2014, it was decided to set up a multinational tanker fleet under the name “Multinational MRTT Fleet” (MMF). Initially, the contract only existed between the Netherlands and Luxembourg. In 2017, Germany and Norway also joined the project and Belgium became the fifth member in 2018. On October 24, 2019, NATO announced that the Czech Republic would become the next participating state. The participation of these six countries is intended to enable the purchase and operation of the now nine aircraft, which, however, are owned by NATO and bear a Dutch registration/identification. The states responsible for the funding will be given exclusive rights of using these aircraft. After several years of preparation, the Multinational MRTT Unit as an operational unit was founded on July 10, 2019 by the chairman of the Multinational Board of Directors, Commodore Dick Kreiter in Eindhoven. Delivery of the aircraft, military designation KC-30M, began on June 30, 2020 with delivery of the first aircraft. The second aircraft soon followed on August 10, 2020. The third A330 MRTT has now been delivered to Eindhoven on November 19, 2020.