Italy settles on Airbus tanker purchase in swing toward European equipment

ROME — Italy is to buy six Airbus A330 MRTT multi-role tanker transport aircraft in a €1.4 billion ($1.6 billion) deal after 15 years of flying Boeing tankers.

The purchase, which was announced by the European Union’s TED public procurement platform, envisages ten years of logistic support and indicates the A330 was the only aircraft in the bidding.

The deal marks a shift from Boeing to Airbus for the Italian Air Force, which flies four Boeing 767-based tanker aircraft which entered service from 2011.

In 2021 Italy announced plans to upgrade its B-767 tankers and purchase two more, but the following year Rome changed its plans, deciding instead to buy six new KC-46 aircraft.

In 2024, however, Italy started to consider Airbus after suspending plans to acquire the KC-46 tankers.

At the time, Italy stated the €1.1 billion KC-46 purchase had been halted “due to changed and unforeseen needs.”

At the time, Defense News reported the halting of the order was linked to cost and the promised delivery time of the new aircraft.

The Airbus order comes at a time when European militaries are seeking greater commonality and are warier of purchases of U.S. products as President Trump regularly disparages the traditional U.S.-Europe trans-Atlantic alliance.

France, Spain and the U..K are customers of the A330 MRTT while a host of other European nations fly the aircraft through NATO pooling.

Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.

罗马——意大利将斥资 14 亿欧元（16 亿美元）购买六架空客 A330 MRTT 多用途加油运输机，此前该国已使用波音加油机 15 年。

此次采购由欧盟的 TED 公共采购平台宣布，预计将提供十年的后勤支持，并表明 A330 是竞标中唯一的机型。

该交易标志着意大利空军的飞机制造商从波音公司转向空客公司。意大利空军目前使用四架波音767加油机，这些飞机从2011年开始服役。

2021 年，意大利宣布计划升级其 B-767 加油机并再购买两架，但第二年罗马改变了计划，决定改为购买六架新的 KC-46 飞机。

然而，2024 年，意大利暂停了采购 KC-46 加油机的计划，开始考虑从空客公司采购。

当时，意大利方面表示，由于“需求发生变化且无法预见”，价值 11 亿欧元的 KC-46 采购计划已经停止。

当时，《防务新闻》报道称，订单中止与新飞机的成本和承诺的交付时间有关。

空客的这笔订单正值欧洲各国军队寻求更大程度的共同化，并且由于特朗普总统经常贬低传统的美国-欧洲跨大西洋联盟，欧洲各国对购买美国产品更加谨慎之际。

法国、西班牙和英国都是A330 MRTT的客户，而其他许多欧洲国家则通过北约共享计划运营该型飞机。

汤姆·金顿是《防务新闻》驻意大利记者。