Spain Takes Its Last Ex-Iberia A330 MRTT at Getafe, Completing the EUR 675 Million Contract of 2021 — MRTT+ Undated
Getafe, 20 October 2026
Key points
- Airbus Defence and Space delivered the third and last A330 MRTT of Spain's November 2021 contract at Getafe on 20 October; it joins Ala 45 at Torrejón
- The EUR 675 million contract covered three second-hand Iberia A330-200s converted at Getafe, with spares, ground equipment, training and support; the first entered service in April 2025, the second followed in autumn 2025
- Amparo Valcarce, secretary of state for defence, said the delivery "completes the first part of the planned fleet" for strategic projection, but gave no date for three more aircraft in the MRTT+ standard under the EUR 5.4 billion framework with Poland
- Spain's aircraft refuel by hose and drogue only, with no boom; Lieutenant General José Antonio Gutiérrez Sevilla of the armaments directorate said the fleet restores a capability lost in 2016
Spain has its three strategic tankers a decade after the capability lapsed; its next three exist only under a framework with Poland.
Airbus's Spanish chief, Francisco Javier Sánchez Segura, called this "the last, or the next-to-last" aircraft of the fleet. Spain's Council of Ministers authorised the joint framework with Poland in August; Spain's three MRTT+ under it have no executive contract, and Valcarce gave no date at the delivery Signal No. 171 carried.
Spain's configuration would not refuel Poland's fighters. Spain's three carry no boom because Spain's receivers, Eurofighter, F/A-18 and Harrier, take fuel by probe; Poland's F-16s and F-35As refuel by boom, so the four Polish aircraft under the framework must carry one, whatever Spain orders next.
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