After previously signaling Airbus’s A330 Multi-role Tanker Transport would best fill the role, the Canadian government formally awarded the company a contract to convert five used jets and build four new ones.
An Airbus press release further stated the first of the newly-built tankers will be delivered in 2027 and that all MRTTs will feature both a hose and drogue and boom for refueling.
The tankers will replace the Royal Canadian Air Force’s aging CC-150 Polaris fleet to provide refueling, cargo and passenger transport and aeromedical evacuation. While Canada operates five CC-150s, only two of them are capable of refueling. That means the NATO member’s mid-air refueling capacity is about to quadruple with the new agreement.