France Orders Additional Eight A330 MRTT Aircraft

France has ordered additional eight A330 Multi-role Tanker Transport Aircraft from Airbus.

The French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA) has placed the order. The first A330 MRTT will be delivered in 2018, second in 2019 and the remaining at a rate of one or two per year, Airbus Defense and Space said in a statement Tuesday.

The aircraft constitute the second tranche of the multi-year contract for 12 A330 MRTTs signed by the French Ministry of Defence in November 2014 and bring the total firm order to nine. The remaining three are scheduled to be confirmed in 2018, permitting deliveries of the 12 aircraft before 2025.

In French service the A330 MRTT will be powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines and equipped with a combination of the Airbus Refuelling Boom System and underwing hose-and-drogue refuelling pods.

It will also be possible to configure them in a variety of layouts carrying up to 271 passengers as well as medevac arrangements including the French MORPHEE intensive care module carrying up to ten patients as well as 88 passengers.