Breaking news
German Air Force takes delivery of its first A400M Atlas military transport aircraft.
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World
Aviation Defense & Security News - Germany |
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| German Air Force takes delivery of its first A400M Atlas military airlifter | |||
Airbus
Defence and Space today, December 18, has formally delivered the first
Airbus A400M military transport ordered by Germany. A total of nine aircraft
have now been delivered and the aircraft is in service with four nations.
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The
Bundeswehr accepted the aircraft at the A400M
Final Assembly Line in Seville, Spain on 18 December. Bernhard Gerwert,
CEO Airbus Defence and Space, said: “We are extremely proud
to hand over the first A400M to Germany. The A400M will play a critical
role in the modernisation of Germany’s air mobility force. The unique
combination of strategic and tactical capabilities, allied to a level
of reliability greater than that of the previous generation aircraft that
it is replacing, will transform the German Air Force’s transport
operations in the coming years.” The A400M will replace the
aging C-160 Transall German fleet. The Airbus A400M is a multi-national four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft. It was designed by Airbus Military as a tactical airlifter with strategic capabilities. The A400M is a larger, more modern, more flexible aircraft specifically designed to meet today’s requirements and indeed those of the future. The A400M can travel further and faster than most current in-service airlifters and can carry larger payloads. It is a multi-role transport, economical to operate, and exploits the benefits of state-of-the-art technology. The A400M carries outsize loads such as helicopters, heavy engineering equipment and armoured vehicles that are too large or too heavy for current tactical airlifters. The A400M satisfies the fundamental requirement of recent humanitarian missions and today’s ongoing military operations to airlift heavy and large equipment directly to where it is most urgently needed, and thus enabling cost-effective and rapid response to crisis. The A400M is capable of carrying a load of 32 tonnes over a range of 2300nmls at speeds comparable with pure-jet military transports; furthermore, the range of the aircraft can be extended by the use of a removable, air refuelling probe mounted above the cockpit. The aircraft is capable of operating either at low-level (down to 150ft agl) or at high-level altitudes to 11,300m, and is able to deploy troops and/or equipment between and within theatres of operation either by parachute (up to 108 paratroopers), or by landing on short, unprepared or semi-prepared strips. The aircraft also offers significant improvements in reliability, maintenance and operating costs over the C-130K and J fleet. |
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