Armed Forces
22% Of Polish Contribution In The Joint European Air Refueling Programme?
fot. Komenda Stołeczna Policji
Poland, the Netherlands and Norway are going to issue a Request For Proposal, regarding a joint acquisition of the Airbus A330 MRTT flying tankers. The Polish contribution in that programme is said to reach the level of 22%, pproportionally to the planned distribution of the flight-hours. The negotiations are being carried out, on behalf of the governments, by the OCCAR organisation (Organisation conjointe de coopération en matière d’armement - Organisation for joint cooperation in the field of armament).
The RFP (request for proposal) for the contractor is going to be issued by the OCCAR agency on behalf of the MMF Programme participants (Multinational MRTT Fleet). This would happen after the content of the RFP document is arranged. Probably this will be done in the first half of this year
The request constitutes an initial stage of negotiations regarding the number and the price of the acquired tankers which are going to be used jointly by the above-mentioned states. According to the plans, the aerial refueling platforms are to gain their IOC (Initial Operational Capability) status by 2019. The programme may also be joined by other participants in the future. According to the memorandum which is currently in force, the level of funding provided by each of the three participants is proportional to the number of the contracted flight hours.
Poland, according to the memorandum, expects to contriibute 22% of assets to the programme. The contribution is proportional to the number of the contracted flight-hours.
According to the information we received, should the negotiations with the manufacturer be successful and should the agreement be concluded, Poland would allocate relevant assets to the programme. The plan assumes that the agreement is to be signed at the beginning of 2016, and that the aircraft would be operating by mid-2020.
The whole programme is being supervised and coordinated by OCCAR (Organisation Conjointe de Coopération en Matière D'armement -Organisation of joint cooperation in the field of armament), supported by the European Defence Agency, which considers the aerial refueling capabilities to be one of its priorities.
The OCCAR agency was established back in 1996. It deals with management of armament development programmes that are run jointly by the European countries, and it is currently managing 8 EU arms programmes, including the following ones: Airbus A400M cargo aircraft, TIGER assault helicopter, FREMM multi-role frigates, or the heavy Boxer APC. Poland is one of the five states involved in the OCCAR programmes, even though it is not a member state.