Italy Drops Boeing KC-46, Picks Airbus A330 MRTT Tankers in €1.39B Deal

Italy has signed a €1.39 billion contract for six Airbus A330 MRTT tanker aircraft, formalised by ARMAERO on 16 April 2026 and published on the EU’s TED portal in May. The deal closes a four-year procurement saga that began with a 2022 selection of Boeing’s KC-46 Pegasus, was cancelled in 2024, then ran through a failed European tender before Airbus emerged as the sole compliant bidder in late 2025.

Both platforms are NATO-interoperable, so the practical change is industrial rather than operational: maintenance, training, and supply chains now anchor to a European ecosystem instead of a US-centric one. Analysts frame the outcome less as a political snub to Washington than as continued momentum for the A330 MRTT, which has gained ground over the KC-46 as Boeing’s tanker programme has been dogged by technical problems and delays. Italy becomes the 19th MRTT operator worldwide.

The aircraft will extend the on-station endurance of Italy’s F-35 and Eurofighter fleets and add strategic transport capacity. Open questions remain over whether Rome will take the baseline A330 MRTT or the newer A330neo-based MRTT+ variant, and how much of the work will be subcontracted to Italian industry.