Joint MRTT buy could pave way for more EDA co-operation with NATO

摘要

The new decision by the Netherlands, Norway, and Poland to consider a collective purchase of A330 multirole tanker transport (MRTT) aircraft is more than just another effort to promote pooling and sharing in Europe, say European Union (EU) officials. The legal and administrative structures supporting the deal may pave the way for much closer co-operation in capability development between the European Defence Agency (EDA) and NATO. "Europe has been told [by Washington] to generate more of its own enablers, and this is a concrete step in that direction," an EDA official said on 22 December. "It took a lot of political and bureaucratic massaging to get this off the ground, but the administrative structures are in place to carry this forward as a model for closer co-operation between nations and between defence organisations."