Airbus Military confident on $40bn tanker contest re-run

When the United States government slaps a 35 per cent import duty on Chinese-made tyres, what chance does the European contender have for a high-tech, high-profile programme like the US Air Force (USAF) KC-X tanker one now being re-run?

An excellent one, according to off-the-record comments from the Airbus Military team behind the A330 MRTT (Multi Role Tanker Transport) contender.

The A330 MRTT won the $40 billion competition for 179 refuelling aircraft the first time around. However, rival Boeing, offering a product based on its 767 aircraft, protested and the result was annulled on a number of technicalities.

The competition has now been re-launched and Airbus Military, which is teamed with Northrop Grumman, is quietly confident that its offer will prevail once again.

“We know that our competitor will lobby hard at a political level to promote its own product and it will play the economic nationalism card,” said one insider. “We will point out the US economic content of the A330 MRTT and, above all, that this was the aircraft that the US Air Force wanted and, we believe, still does.”

Meanwhile, Airbus Military is progressing on work for the firm orders that it has for the A330 MRTT, including two from the Middle East . The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has ordered six aircraft and the UAE three and may be interested in taking more, according to Peter Scoffham, head of defence capability marketing for Airbus Military.

“The UAE has ordered three aircraft and there might be more,” he said. “Discussions are under way.”

The USAF competition aside, Scoffham believes there is a world market of some 40 – 50 tankers in this category. Airbus Military also has orders for 14 aircraft from the UK and five from Australia .

Miguel Morell Fuentes, head of military derivatives programmes, said: “We are going to get all of this market. If we don’t have any competition, then we will get all of the orders. Today, we do not have any competition.”

The Airbus Military team revealed that the UAE is alone in choosing to have all its (current) three aircraft converted at the Airbus Military base at Madrid . Other purchasers will have their initial aircraft converted at Madrid before completing conversions of subsequent aircraft on their home soil.

Both the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) and the UAE Air Force are scheduled to take delivery of their first A330 MRTT in 2011. In the case of the RSAF, the first aircraft was due to arrive in Madrid for conversion this month. The next five aircraft will be converted in Saudi Arabia . The first aircraft for the UAE Air Force will arrive in Madrid for conversion in January 2010, with the other two also scheduled for conversion in Madrid .

While Airbus Military is confident of securing more orders for the A330 MRTT – it is in discussions with France , among other potential buyers – the big prize is the re-run USAF KC-X competition.

Since the original competition was run, the world has gone through economic turmoil and the siren voice of economic nationalism has been heard in some quarters in the United States .

On the eve of the re-launched KC-X competition, US president Obama slapped 35 per cent important duties on Chinese-made tyres in what seen as an unwarranted protectionist move.

Despite that, the Airbus Military team remains confident at the prospects for the A330 MRTT the second time around. “Which car are you going to buy?” asked Fuentes. “The model that is no longer in production or the one that is in production and which has the latest technologies and which is cheaper?”

The A330 MRTT is based on the best-selling commercial A330 aircraft, which has logged more than 1,000 orders to nearly 100 customers. Airbus Military said that this network ensures “easy and swift” technical support for the military variant.

It offers a 36,700 US gallon fuel capacity, compared to 23,000 gallons in the VC-10 and 24,000 gallons in the KC-767A and can refuel any receiver either via wing pods or its in-house-designed Aerial Refuelling Boom System (ARBS) fuselage refuelling unit.

The ARBS was developed by Airbus Military and offers a fuel transfer rate of 1,200 gallons per minute. The boom operator is co-located with the flight crew in the cockpit and uses a three-dimensional viewing system during refuelling operations.

In addition to its refuelling capability, the A330 MRTT offers a strategic solution for military or humanitarian payloads, according to Airbus Military. It can be configured to take up to 380 passengers in a single class lay-out, 298 in a two-class lay-out, or 253 in a three-class lay-out.

The A330 MRTT can also take a cargo payload of 45 tonnes, contained in standard commercial containers (LD1, LD3 and LD6) or on 463-L NATO military pallets. The aircraft can also take cargo on the main deck when it is specified as a freighter.

In its role as a medical evacuation aircraft, it can be converted to take up to 130 stretchers.