The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) today officially received its first of four Airbus A400M military transport aircraft, ordered from Airbus Defense and Space.
Chief of RMAF, General Dato’ Sri Roslan Saad officially took over the aircraft from Bernhard Gerwert, CEO of Airbus Defence and Space. The ceremony took place at the Langkawi International Maritime & Aerospace (LIMA) 2015 in the presence of the Prime Minister of Malaysia Dato’ Seri Najib Razak and Minister of Defence Dato’ Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.
Malaysia is the first export customer of the A400M outside of the original launch nations.
The occasion also marked the debut of the A400M at LIMA 2015. The technologically-advanced airlifter had earlier performed a special fly-past at the Show’s opening ceremony.
The RMAF A400M will be on static display throughout the LIMA 2015 from March 17-21, 2015 before returning to its new home base Subang in Kuala Lumpur.
“As a new generation multi-role transport aircraft, the A400M will strengthen RMAF’s tactical and strategic capabilities. It will enable us to undertake an extraordinary range of military and humanitarian operations within the country and regionally,” said Chief of RMAF, General Dato’ Sri Roslan Saad.
Bernhard Gerwert, CEO Airbus Defence and Space, said: “We are extremely proud to deliver the first A400M to our first export customer and we want to congratulate Malaysia on its foresight and vision. The A400M is the ideal aircraft for a region like Asia-Pacific and we are sure that Malaysia will show the way here on how beneficial the A400M can be.”
Following the official ceremony, the Prime Minister of Malaysia met with the RMAF crew who had flown the A400M all the way from Seville, Spain, to its new home at RMAF Subang, with an overnight stop at Abu Dhabi. The same crew also flew this morning’s fly-past demonstration.
The Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense then visited the airlifter spending time at the cockpit with the crew.
