The future with the multinational MRTT
Emergency medical evacuation
AAR is a strategic asset and then, is absolutely necessary for air power projection. Tankers are therefore required to sustain combat operations when aircraft are on long-range missions as they extend the payload and endurance of receiver aircraft. Actually, modern day air power relies in part on the tankers capacity, as the AAR enables air operation to be projected and concentrated around a strategic point.
AAR activities will also intensify with the progressive introduction of the Airbus A400M. However, the military transport aircraft accumulates failures in recent years. Airbus was penalised by the European countries customers, including France and Germany who are the two main buyers.
EDA, with the cooperation of EATC, intends to progressively develop EART by inviting other nations to participate and by offering major exercises. EATC is currently studying possibilities to offer in 2019 a double-phased EART training. The basic training would then be organised in first semester, concurrently with Frisian Flag. As Frisian Flag is a complex exercise, the AAR procedure must be carried out in a very short time. Thus, everything depends on the experience of the fighter pilots and the control of all the parameters like the approach, the contact, the separation, the flight in formation, or even the weather. In the second phase, led by another member country of the EATC, crews would train in advanced procedures, combined with multinational exercises involving a larger number of fighters, including Ocean Sky in Spain and Volfa in France: “The server will be here in Eindhoven. We have an objective training matrix. All we need is airspace, we will make grid software”, revealed Lieutenant-Colonel Franck. For EATC, these exercises offer a unique opportunity to train crews to plan and coordinate missions in a multinational framework: “We train in France to do daily work”, said Captain Guillaume. “Here, on the contrary, we are working in an international context. The crew is training, we do not have a mentor, but we also have people working at the operations level here. For young people, this is the first experience in a framework that is not yet operational... it’s simulated operational. They can therefore understand a little what happens, since same methods are used.”
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But all these projects will not be enough in the current state, because Europe needs 130 tankers to be significantly operational. According to another study conducted on this subject, two A330 MRTTs flying twice a day would be able to meet the demands of all European nations to maintain the qualifications and initial training of fighter pilots. “Only two”, Lieutenant-Colonel Franck pointed out, adding: “We are therefore thinking of making hubs (AAR zones), one to the south and one to the north of Europe. We will sell slots to the nations. This will be managed in simple cost, since there will be no transit, it will be an ATARES use. We will manage the fleets here. And if other nations, like the Poles, want to come with their slots, we would do this a long time in advance because there are behind diplomatic problems to manage. We will have to check certification procedures.” Moreover, the management of these aircraft in a restricted area is not easy: “It is necessary to be able to gather planes and it is especially necessary to optimise them”, explained Lieutenant-Colonel Franck. “Today we are optimising a C-135. Tomorrow an A330, 110 tons to take off... it will need people to optimise this plane. Moreover, the A330 will not only be called for AAR as the C-135 does it today. Tomorrow, it will carry out strategic transport, Medevac (emergency medical evacuation).”