NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte met with defense industry representatives during the NATO summit in Ankara. Rutte announced that the alliance will establish a strategic air fleet of Airbus A400M transport aircraft and add one more aircraft to the existing A330 MRTT tanker fleet.
Rutte's statement, saying "Air power is vital to strengthening our deterrence and defense," came in response to US President Donald Trump's calls for more spending on Europe's defense. Allies also announced billions of dollars in arms deals to show they are heeding those calls.
The MRTT fleet, consisting of nine A330 aircraft based in Eindhoven, Netherlands, also has the capacity to transport troops or passengers. NATO aims to expand this fleet to 12 aircraft in the long term to fill gaps in planning after the US reduced its defense contributions. Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden are participating in the current program.
The strategic A400M fleet will be formed with the participation of Belgium, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Turkey, Croatia and Poland. Exports of the A400M, designed to fill Europe's military cargo and troop transport gap, had been slow until now. Airbus said the announcement is a significant boost for the A400M program.
The new fleet will initially consist of aircraft already in service, with aircraft from the production line to be added later. An Airbus spokesperson said the operation could lead to new orders down the line, but it was too early to speculate on numbers and timing.
Although details of the US defense contribution cuts have not been made public, a military source said they cover a wide range from refueling aircraft to fighter jets, drones and ships. Trump has long criticized European governments for being overly dependent on the US for defense.
