Airbus sets MRTT sights on North America

Having established the A330 MRTT as the global market leader, Airbus is now targeting North America specifically. (Commonwealth of Australia)

Airbus is targeting North America for future sales of its A330-200 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft, with a senior company official telling Janes and other defence media that the region has been “a blind spot” for the platform up until now.

Speaking at Airbus' annual Trade Media Briefing, being held virtually for a second year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, head of Military Aircraft within Airbus Defence and Space, Jean-Brice Dumont, said that Airbus has already been downselected as the sole contender for Canada's Strategic Tanker Transport Capability (STTC) project, and the company is teaming with Lockheed Martin to secure the KC-Y Bridge Tanker requirement for the United States.

“It's quite a blind spot on the American countries,” Dumont said. “But if you look at Canada, we have been selected as the sole bidder for the STTC campaign, and we are in intense discussions with the Canadian government to make that a reality. Looking a bit further in the future, we are together with Lockheed Martin in preparing to bid for the KC-Y programme, which is a very, very major programme for the US Air Force, with an aircraft that we have named LMXT.”