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MANCHING, Germany—Growing demand for the Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) derivative of the A330 airliner has prompted Airbus to expand its conversion capacity.
Currently, all MRTTs conversions are performed at Airbus’ site at Getafe in Madrid, Spain. The company is now set to open a new conversion center to the south of the country at its San Pablo facility—currently home of A400M and C295 assembly—in Seville, the company announced May 20 during its first Defense Summit here in Manching, Germany.
Opening the facility in Seville will allow the airframer to expand its conversion rate from five to seven MRTTs annually. The complex process takes green or second-hand A330 airframes and adds the hose and drogue, boom refueling and associated systems to the aircraft, as well as the boom operator’s position in the cockpit, defensive aids and other equipment. The Seville site will also handle maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) work in addition to upgrades of the A330 MRTTs already in service.
“The choice of Seville is no coincidence; it is a strategic decision,” Airbus Spain President Francisco Javier Sánchez Segura said. The facilities there met all the “critical requirements” for military conversion programs as complex as the A330 to MRTT, he added.
Airbus will modernize the infrastructure and equip it for the conversion process. It will also develop a training program for the workforce.
The airframer is expecting a slew of orders for the MRTT as nations invest in strategic air transport and refueling capability to extend the legs of their combat aircraft. Italy is the latest country to sign up for the platform with plans to acquire six aircraft. Among the MRTTs in Airbus’ conversion backlog are aircraft for NATO’s multinational aerial refueling unit, Saudi Arabia, Spain and Thailand, with more to follow.
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