The UK’s first Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FSTA) A330-200 has been flown from Airbus’s Toulouse facility in France to the Airbus Military facility at Getafe, Spain

The conversion work to equip the aircraft for military duty will include equipping military avionics and refuelling capability at the Airbus Military’s newly built airdock.

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Refuelling operations will be carried out in the same tanks fitted to the standard Airbus A330 aircraft, freeing the cabin to transport around 290 personnel with a maximum payload of 44t.

The Royal Air Force’s current fleet of Vickers VC-10 and TriStar aircraft will be replaced by 14 converted Airbus A330-200 aircraft.

The new fleet of aircraft will be owned and supported by AirTanker, a UK company created to provide FSTA service to the UK Ministry of Defence.

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