ottawaairbus has been selected to replace the royal canadian air forces fleet of longrange multiuse transport aircraft in a contract valued at roughly 36 billion canadian dollars us273 billion the government said tuesday that airbus defence  space would supply nine aircraft that would take the place of its fleet of cc150 polaris aircraft which have been operating for more than 30 years and are nearing the end of their service life the contract with the european aerospace and defense company includes four new airbus a330 multirole tanker transport aircraft along with the conversion of five used a3300200 aircraft the new fleet is expected to operate into the 2050s the government said when delivered the aircraft will be designated the cc330 husky and the primary role of the fleet will be airtoair refuelling while also being equipped to airlift large numbers of canadian armed forces personnel and equipment in support of operations and training activities within canada and around the world the government said the aircraft will be able to refuel current and future royal canadian air force fighter aircraft including the f35 as well as fighter aircraft used by the us as part of norad and by nato partners airbus said contract which it valued at c3 billion covers a suite of training services including devices such as a simulator to prepare and maintain crew readiness as part of the modernisation of the canadian armed forces air operational training infrastructure the newlybuilt a330200s will be assembled in toulouse france and the first aircraft will be delivered in 2027