This November 2021, the Spanish Air Force received the first out of three Airbus A330-200 aircraft. The assets will be operated by the “45 Grupo de Fuerzas Aéreas” stationed in Torrejón airbase near Madrid.
Colonel Toledano Munoz, Spanish Senior National Representative at EATC, stated that “the decision by the Spanish Ministry of Defence to acquire A330s followed the decommissioning of the Boeing 707. These left a gap for strategic air transport and air-to-air refuelling with our air force. The current plan is to refurbish three A330s to the same enhanced level as the A330 MRTT assets with the MMU* and the French Air Force.”
The three A330s will transformed at Airbus facilities in Spain to become multirole operational - air transport, aeromedical evacuations, air-to-air refuelling. The current timeline foresees that the transformation process will start by mid-2024 and the fleet will be completely multirole operational by the end 2025. To bridge the gap between now and 2025, the two first delivered assets will already be operated for air transport and aeromedical evacuations.
Colonel Toledano Munoz, who is also Head of EATC’s operational division, will direct the integration of this new fleet into EATC’s operational process. He confirms that “the Spanish Air Force is fully dedicated to EATC’s and EDA’s synergic efforts to foster interoperability with the A330 MRTT community. The Spanish intent is to transfer the authority of the three A330 MRTTs to EATC. Until then we got our hands full, finalising the acquisition process, training our crews and receiving these state-of-the art assets within our Air Force.”
* multinational MRTT unit