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2020-11-12

A400M Backbone of Luxembourg Armed Forces

The Luxembourg Armed Forces recently took the delivery of its Airbus A400M military transport aircraft, which was accepted at the A400M Final Assembly Line in Seville, Spain, and has performed a ferry flight. It will make a first stop in Luxembourg before continuing its journey to the 15th Wing Air Transport in Melsbroek, Belgium, where the joint airlift unit between Belgium and Luxembourg will be based. With this delivery, Luxembourg becomes the seventh A400M operator.

The aircraft, known as MSN104, will be operated by the Luxembourg Armed Forces and Belgium within a binational unit, together with the seven A400M ordered by Belgium, which is due to receive its first aircraft in the coming weeks.

Alberto Gutierrez, Head of Military Aircraft at Airbus Defence and Space, said: “I welcome Luxembourg to the growing A400M user community. With 94 aircraft in service, the A400M is increasingly becoming the air mobility backbone of our customers, both in civil and military environments, as seen in recent COVID-19 crisis missions around the globe.”

Making an Impression

Moreover, the capability of the Royal Air Force (RAF) A400M was recently showcased to the Kazakh Government to promote the bilateral military co-operation between the UK and Kazakhstan.

With the ability to carry a 37-tonne payload over 2,000 miles, the A400M provides the RAF with tactical airlift and strategic oversize lift capabilities. The Kazakh Government are currently considering purchasing an aircraft to meet their requirements for strategic airlift.

As part of the demonstration, the A400M was loaded with an Arlan Armoured vehicle and Airbus Test pilots showcased the aircraft’s technical capabilities to Kazakh Air Defense Force Officers.

Representatives from the RAF and Airbus briefed the Kazakh Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development on how the A400M is an efficient and innovative aircraft that could effectively support their military operations.

Defence Attaché of the British Embassy, Andrew Houlton said: “The A400M has proven itself in service with the RAF, and I am delighted that we have had the opportunity to provide assistance to the Kazakh Government as they make their decision on purchasing an aircraft to meet their requirement for strategic airlift.” A total of 92 A400Ms are in operation, with production of the 100th one going on.

Rapid Response

The A400M is the proven, certified and in-operations advanced airlifter with 21st century state-of-the-art technologies. It was launched to respond to the combined needs of seven European Nations regrouped within OCCAR (Belgium, France, Germany, Luxemburg, Spain, Turkey and the UK), with Malaysia joining later on.

The first production aircraft was delivered to the French Air Force in August 2013 and entered into RAF service a year after. The A400M has already seen operational service with the RAF as well as with the French, German and Turkish Air Forces. This has included support to operations in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, the African Sahel Region, Mali, The Falklands, the Caribbean and in the Middle East.

The A400M can airlift in its large cargo bay most of the critical armed forces equipment that no longer fits in previous generation tactical airlifters, such as a heavy helicopter, an infantry fighting vehicle or a humanitarian excavator. Thanks to its combined strategic and tactical capabilities, the aircraft has proven better range, speed, altitude, payload and tactical performance than previous-generation tactical airlifters, enabling the delivery of game-changing capabilities to the point of need, such as next to a natural disaster or a theatre of operations where strategic airlifters cannot operate.

Filling Gaps

Previous-generation tactical airlifters have good tactical performance but cannot carry the outsize military and humanitarian relief loads because their cargo holds are too small. Current strategic aircraft are good outsize-load airlifters but are costly and have limited tactical capability as they cannot operate from soft fields. The A400M is a larger, more modern aircraft specifically designed for today’s requirements and those of the future. Thanks to its tactical performance and the ability to carry overweight loads over long distances, the A400M fills the current logistic and tactical capability gap. With the cockpit flight deck located at the very front of the fuselage, much of the internal space is reserved for cargo.

Reference Text/Photo:www.airbus.com,www.gov.uk

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