flightglobal.com 10-16 December 2019 | Flight International | 25
A400M
ability to land on a 915m (3,000ft)-long
unpaved runway while carrying a 27t
payload, he adds: “The users are now really
putting this into operational use on real
military missions.”
Gutierrez notes that with the re-baselining
agreement, all of the A400M’s remaining ca-
pabilities will be available by its Batch 7
standard, due for acceptance by the end of
- This will especially improve reliability
and availability, he adds.
Speaking in early November, Eric Isorce –
one of the crew members from the first
A400M flight, and the head of the company’s
flight-test department between 2015 and July
2019, detailed the recent activities conducted
in support of delivering further functionality.
He describes progress made with advancing
tactical capabilities over the past two years as
“fantastic”.
Air-to-air refuelling work has included so-
called “dry” contacts with an Airbus Helicop-
ters H225M and this work will advance with
fuel transfers from December using an extend-
ed 36m hose design. Certification is expected
during 2020 or 2021. Trials work has also
been conducted using a centreline hose drum
unit and two additional fuselage tanks, to
support large receiver aircraft.
Paratroop drop testing has at last validated
that two lines of personnel can be deployed
from the aircraft’s side doors without crossing
behind. Side door modifications have been
approved, and during trials 40 troops jumped
from each side simultaneously, and 58 from
one side only.
Tactical low-level flight work is also
advancing. Users can currently fly the Atlas
as low as 150ft in daylight in visual meteoro-
logical conditions and 300ft at night, and the
same capability has been shown during trials
in automatic terrain-following mode. Similar
work in instrument meteorologicalconditions will take place during 2020,
Isorce says.
An internal cargo crane with a 5t lift
capacity has been tested successfully, proving
the ability to operate without ground infra-
structure.
Notable operational use has included the
UK delivering humanitarian relief supplies to
the Caribbean and Mozambique, and Malay-
sia’s use in supporting disaster relief efforts in
Bangladesh in 2017 and flights of heavy
equipment and supplies into Palu, Indonesia
last year.
It has been a highly turbulent first decade
for the A400M, and by the time the next 10
years have passed, production of the Atlas
will either be reaching its conclusion for the
original nations, or enjoying better fortunes
after attracting additional customers.
Only time will tell, but Airbus is hoping
that the type’s attraction will prove to be more
enduring than seen with its commercial flag-
ship and development peer, the A380. If that
ends up to be the case, then its early optimism
for the A400M could ultimately end up deliv-
ering the goods after all. ■Malaysia has used its fleet for supporting disaster relief in Bangladesh and Palu, Indonesia
Air-to-air refuelling trial with an H160 (right) and H225M (far right) has proven successful
Luftwaffe is type’s lead
user, with 31 examples
now in serviceBundeswehrDGAFazry Ismail/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock“The users are now really
putting this into operational
use on real military missions”
Ioannis Papachristofilou
Head of marketing, Airbus Defence & Space