A French A330 MRTT refuelled a C-17A for the first time during Exercise Pitch Black 2022, in a sign of military ties warming post-AUKUS.
A single A330 MRTT Phénix of the French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air) was involved in the refuelling alongside a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) C-17A of No.36 Squadron. Contact was made for the first time on August 30 off the Queensland coast. Alongside Rafale fighters, the French Phénix is deployed to Australia as part of Exercise Pitch Black.
The Armée de l'Air is only the second A330 MRTT operator to demonstrate aerial refuelling with a C-17A after the RAAF. Only the United Arab Emirates Air Force (UAEAF) and RAAF operate both refuelling-boom-equipped MRTTs and C-17A transports. The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) is also expected to operate both types when it introduces its new A330 MRTTs into service later in the decade.
Notably, the inaugural refuelling between a French MRTT and C-17A was conducted with a RAAF aircraft, rather than a C-17A operated by the UK or US in support of French operations abroad. The cooperation is yet another sign that, by and large, the bilateral issues caused by AUKUS are behind both countries.
At a briefing in Canberra last week, Brigadier General Valery Putz, head of the French Armed Forces in New Caledonia (FANC) confirmed this. He told ADM that as far as he is concerned, the issues created by AUKUS have been resolved.
“[There] is a new momentum in [cooperation] between [Australia and France]. At my level [the bilateral issues] are over,” he said.
Brigadier General Putz added that one of his priorities as the head of FANC was to foster interoperability with the wider Australian Defence Force (ADF). He told ADM that, following the departure of the Armée de l'Air task group, a French Frigate FS Vendémiaire will arrive in Australia to participate in Exercise Kakadu 2022.