GARTEUR (Group of Aeronautical Research and Technology in EU-Rope) is a multinational organisation that performs high quality, collaborative, pre-competitive aeronautical research. It is based on a government-to-government agreement (MoU) between seven European nations with major research and test capabilities in aeronautics. GARTEUR was formed in 1973 by the governments of France, Germany and the United Kingdom in the wake of the formation of Airbus. The Netherlands joined the group in 1977. Sweden joined GARTEUR in 1991, followed by Spain in 1996 and Italy in the year 2000. The GARTEUR focus is on research topics aimed at long term R&T because this is considered essential to assure sustained competitiveness of the European aerospace industries. A key asset of GARTEUR is its unique mechanism for cooperation, which has been used successfully for numerous collaboration projects over the past decades. It is the only framework in Europe for both civil and military aeronautics R&T.