Military planes will soon have priority on NATO flight routes

Photo by Angelo Abear on Unsplash

The Czech Republic has joined NATO's MRTT project for the purchase of new tankers. This group of NATO countries, which was started by the Netherlands and Luxembourg, buys eight Airbus A330 tankers, which can be used by various countries. From next year, five will be stationed at Eindhoven Airport, and three at Cologne in Germany. For maintenance, there is cooperation with France, which has its own tank aircraft.

By joining forces, a group of European countries is reducing the shortage of tanker capacity. The possibility of refueling aircraft in the air is scarce and essential. At the same time it makes Europe less dependent on American aircraft, said Dutch Minister Ank Bijleveld (Defense).

The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany, Norway and the Czech Republic use the A330s in turns to refuel aircraft and to transport troops and equipment. The Netherlands still flies with a few KDC-10 tankers. They will be divested by the arrival of the A330s.

On their two-day deliberation, NATO ministers also approved the plans for new flight paths for military aircraft. From now on they will also be given priority over civil aviation in peacetime if they have to cross European airspace due to some crisis.

Special corridors in the airspace will be agreed that the military aircraft can then use exclusively and unhindered by civilian aircraft. They also receive a special call code for identification.

NATO has made agreements on this with Eurcontrol, the EU organization for air traffic control over Europe. According to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, this will greatly increase the deployability of troops and equipment in the event of an acute crisis. A few hours of time can already make a huge difference.