One of the most interesting aspects of the recent Pitch Black 2022 exercise in the Northern Territory was the proliferation of the Airbus Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft.
No fewer than seven MRTTs from six different organisations participated in Pitch Black 2022, operating from diverse locations such as Amberley, Tindal and Darwin. Indeed, the only other tanker assets were two US Marine Corps’ KC-130J Hercules.
The MRTT is based on Airbus’ commercial A330-200 airliner and, for the record, two RAAF KC-30As and single MRTT derivatives from the Republic of Korea Air Force (KC-330 Cygnus), Royal Air Force (Voyager KC.1), French Air Force (Phénix), Republic of Singapore Air Force and NATO’s MMF directly participated in the exercise. A number of other MRTTs from those six organisations also supported the various deployments to and from Australia.
Of these, the NATO Multinational Multi-role tanker and transport Fleet (MMF) supported the deployment of six Luftwaffe Eurofighters to Darwin for participation in both Pitch Black and Exercise Kakadu.
The MMF is managed by the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) and operates as an international unit, with the aircraft placed on the Royal Netherlands Air Force register and based in Germany (Köln-Bonn) and the Netherlands (Eindhoven). Its charter is to provide the six nations currently participating in the program (Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Luxembourg, Norway and the Netherlands) with strategic tanker and transport capabilities.
The program was initially launched by the Netherlands (as the lead customer) and Luxembourg in July 2016; Germany and Norway joined in 2017, followed by Belgium in early 2018 and the Czech Republic in October 2019. Nine aircraft are on order, of which seven have already been delivered and there is an option for a tenth. The fleet is also expected to grow further in the future, as further NATO and European Union partners join the program.
Speaking to ADM in Darwin during Pitch Black 2022, the MMF Detachment Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Marcel Novak from the Luftwaffe described the process of deploying the German Eurofighters across the world, despite the unit not yet reaching Initial Operational Capability IOC.
“We had three aircraft bringing the jets here, two as designated tankers and one as a spare tanker five minutes behind the formation. Two other tankers left already and we are only here (in Darwin) with one aircraft,” LTCOL Novak said.
“We did our fuel offload calculations in our (onboard) mission planning system and determined the refuelling brackets for the jets, depending on their usage of fuel in the air. It was pretty tight on the way from Abu Dhabi to Singapore, so we had a spare tanker in the back (of the formation) with a lot of gas, to jump in if something goes wrong.
“And we never used it, so it was pretty good for us (and) even though we’re not yet at IOC, we have made a good footstep with this deployment. The challenge was to be in Singapore within 24 hours and if one of the fighters hadn’t developed a minor issue in Singapore we would have done it in below 20 hours, but it was 20 hours and 20 minutes.”
While the MMF has not completed clearances with fighters outside the NATO construct as yet, LTCOL Novak said he was hoping to expand the receiver matrix to RAAF F-35A Lightning IIs and EA-18G Growlers during their stay in Darwin.
“So far, we’re only cleared for the German Eurofighter Typhoon (at Pitch Black) because we are very unique and new units back in the Netherlands and Germany. Hopefully we will get the clearance done for the Australian fighters as well, starting next week,” he explained.
“We'll try to get the work done in the background. Our legal affairs office is in contact with the Australian legal affairs office and hopefully they get a solution so we can start next week with the Australian F-35s and EA-18Gs.”
Speaking during the second week of Pitch Black, LTCOL Novak said that the German fighters and the MMF MRTT would remain in the Top End for the Kakadu exercise, before dividing the force and deploying home via Singapore and Japan.
“We will be here until the 23rd of September and then for the redeployment we will first go back to Singapore. Then we split the two tankers - one tanker will stay in Singapore for about a week for local flying with the Singaporeans, with three of the Eurofighters, and another jet departs to make a trip to Japan with the other three jets.”