Metrea (Formerly Meta Aerospace) is a military contractor based in the United States which provides air logistics and surveillance, electronic and cyberwarfare services support to militaries in the US, Canada, NATO and allied countries.

History

Metrea was founded on August 26, 2016. The head of the Air & Space Group is Jon T. Thomas, former lieutenant general of the

US Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

. As of February 2025, it operated 15

Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an American military aerial refueling tanker aircraft that was developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, alongside the Boeing 707 airliner. It has a narrower fuselage and is shorter than the 707. Boeing gave ...

. 4 aircraft were purchased from the

Republic of Singapore Air Force The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) is the aerial service branch of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) responsible for controlling and defending the airspace of the country, and providing air support to the Army and Navy. It was establis ...

when the latter retired them in 2019. They were delivered in late 2020. and 11 additional aircraft were purchased from the

French Air and Space Force The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the French Air F ...

in June 2024, with 3 more pending delivery. On February 6, 2025, a Beechcraft B300 King Air 350 Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance light aircraft from Metrea crashed in the town of Ampatuan on the island of

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) is the List of islands of the Philippines, second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and List of islands by population, seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the ...

in the Philippines during a routine mission supporting U.S.-Philippine security cooperation activities. The three Metrea employees and one American soldier on board died. On 28 March 2025, the Indian Ministry of Defence signed a contract with Metrea Management to supply one KC-135 Flight Refuelling Aircraft (FRA) to the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the air force, air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during armed conflicts. It was officially established on 8 Octob ...

(IAF) within six months for training pilots of IAF and the Indian Navy for

in-flight refuelling Aerial refueling ( en-us), or aerial refuelling ( en-gb), also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the tanker) to ano ...

References

Companies based in Washington, D.C. Private military contractors Aerospace companies of the United States Air refueling {{Mil-stub

History

See also

References