Airbus recently reached a milestone of 100th A400M with the delivery of tenth A400M for Spanish Air Force
27 May 2021: Airbus achieved three major milestones last week demonstrating the maturity of their A400M programme on all fronts. They recently reached a milestone of 100th A400M with the delivery of tenth A400M for Spanish Air Force. In the same week, the A400M global fleet also achieved the 100,000 flight-hours landmark performing missions worldwide for all eight customer nations. All A400M operators have been able to operate the aircraft intensively for Covid-19 emergency response missions, as well as conduct joint, collaborative operations.
Recently the A400M successfully conducted a major helicopter air-to-air refuelling certification flight test campaign in coordination with the DGA (French Directorate General of Armaments), completing the majority of its certification objectives, including the first simultaneous refueling of two helicopters.
The A400M is already able to drop up to 116 paratroopers, via simultaneous dispatch from the side doors with automatic parachute opening, or from the ramp with automatic parachute opening or in freefall, day and night. Recent tests were completed in Spain, in collaboration with the UK Royal Air Force parachute test team, to expand up to 25,000 feet for automatic parachute opening – and up to 38,000ft for free fall.
The A400M also completed additional tests to expand its airdrop capability, including multiple platforms with parachute extraction. France and Spain participated in these flights.
The A400M also achieved a new decisive milestone after the certification flights of its Automatic Low Level Flight capability for Instrumental Meteorological Conditions (IMC). Using navigation systems and terrain databases, without the need of a terrain-following radar, this is a first for a military transport aircraft. This makes the aircraft less detectable in hostile areas and less susceptible to threats while conducting operations in hostile environments.
2020 and 2021 also saw the use of the A400M in civil emergency response roles during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, not least for civil medical evacuation (medevac) duties – with Airbus providing critical support for air force operators – as well as for transporting key medical relief supplies. The versatility of the aircraft also allowed a rapid conversion to medevac configuration, where installed critical care modules provided airborne intensive care units.
With the maturity, versatility and unique capabilities proven in operations all around the world, A400M is proving to be a game changer for military airlift and humanitarian missions in the 21st century.
