NATO nations launch A400M High Visibility Project

At the NATO Summit Defence Forum, the governments of Belgium, Croatia, France, Poland, Spain, Türkiye and the United Kingdom, launched a High Visibility Project for the Airbus A400M.

This multinational initiative builds on the success of the Multinational MRTT Fleet (MMF). It is designed to address strategic airlift capability gaps among European allies, with the eventual establishment of a Multinational Fleet centred on the Airbus A400M military aircraft. 

Built upon a ‘pooling and sharing’ strategy, this initiative envisions different stages of cooperation among participating nations, ranging from a multi-nationally owned and operated A400M fleet to related services such as maintenance, training support, infrastructure and procurement.

The goal is to create an end-to-end solution that more effectively fulfils national and NATO requirements, while offering greater operational flexibility in specific capabilities including air-to-air refuelling, disaster relief, medical evacuation and firefighting.

“The selection of the A400M for this multinational fleet underlines its key strategic airlift capabilities. With more than 135 aircraft in operation and more than 270,000 flight hours achieved by the global fleet, the A400M has become the backbone of Air Mobility for the largest European NATO countries, and with its future capability roadmap, its role will become even more essential for decades to come,“ Chairman Airbus Defence and Space UK, Ben Bridge, stated.

This A400M multinational initiative is inspired by the success of the MMF, which from 2020 operates the Airbus A330 Multirole Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft, the most capable and combat-proven strategic tanker available.

This program provides nations the exclusive right to operate NATO-owned Airbus A330 MRTT aircraft in a pooling arrangement.

Alongside the A400M agreement, NATO has officially announced the incorporation of Finland as a new member of the Multinational MRTT Fleet, expanding the base of participating nations and reinforcing European sovereignty in critical defence capabilities. 

The MMF program now comprises nine participating nations: the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Norway, Germany, Belgium, Czechia, Sweden, Denmark and Finland.

With nine A330 MRTTs in operation from a total order of 12 aircraft, the MMF unit has already deployed to  NATO's Eastern Flank, supported civilian and refugee evacuations in Afghanistan, and participated in multinational exercises in the Indo-Pacific region, according to Airbus.