There are currently two initiatives designed to provide NATO Alliance and participating partner countries with strategic airlift capabilities: the Strategic Airlift Capability (SAC) and the Multinational Multi-role Tanker Transport (MRTT) Fleet (MMF).
The first unit established to give NATO Allies and partners access to strategic airlift is the Strategic Airlift Capability (SAC). It procured three Boeing C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft for a group of 12 NATO Allies, including Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, and the United States. The SAC’s operational branch, the military Heavy Airlift Wing (HAW), based at the Hungarian Defence Forces’ 47th Air Base in Pápa, operates the aircraft.
The NATO Multinational Multi-Role Tanker Transport Fleet (MMF) based at Eindhoven in the Netherlands currently consists of nine Airbus A330 MRTT aircraft already in service. One more aircraft is expected to be delivered this year, while the 11th and 12th aircraft will be delivered in mid-2028 and early 2029. The nine NATO Allies participating in the MMF programme are Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden.
In July 2026, at the NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum in Ankara, seven NATO Allies—Belgium, Croatia, France, Poland, Spain, Türkiye, and the United Kingdom—launched a High Visibility Project centred on the Airbus A400M, building on the success of the MMF. Based on a ‘pooling and sharing’ strategy, this initiative foresees different phases of cooperation among the participating nations, ranging from a multinationally owned and operated A400M fleet to related services such as maintenance, training support, and infrastructure. The aim is to meet NATO requirements more effectively while providing greater operational flexibility for specific capabilities, including air-to-air refuelling, disaster relief, medical evacuation, and firefighting.
Simultaneously, NATO chose the Saab GlobalEye as its next AEW&C platform to replace the ageing E-3A AWACS fleet, with several allies planning to acquire up to ten aircraft. The NATO AEW&C Force E-3As are currently based at Geilenkirchen in Germany, with 16 participating countries.
Although negotiations with NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) have not yet resulted in a contract, the first GlobalEyes are expected to operate from Swedish bases by 2027.
by David Oliver
