UK Ministry of Defence, The Airbus A400M aircraft, critical to the UK's future military airlift capability, and due to replace the RAF's C-130K Hercules, is on the way to its first test flight.
Air Marshal Sir Barry Thornton, DE&S' Chief of Materiel (Air), recently visited the aircraft's final assembly line in Seville to see the progress being made on the project as the first test and evaluation aircraft continues to take shape. He saw the outer wings being mated with the centre wing box, the nose section with the fuselage and the horizontal tail plane with the vertical tail plane.
“I'm delighted that the Air Marshal took time to visit the impressive assembly line where he saw this vital project coming together,” said Richard Smart, leader of DE&S' A400M Integrated Project Team.
“This is a significant project for the nations involved and it is fantastic for all, not just for the members of the IPT, to see the good progress which has been made this year.
“It has been and continues to be a busy year for us but we are on track towards the maiden flight of the first aircraft next year.”
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Mr Smart added that important progress is also being made on the development of the UK's A400M in-service support solution. The A400M team at Abbey Wood is working closely with Airbus Military to explore a partnering arrangement. It would deliver value for money by getting the most from the IPT's knowledge of the operational environment and Airbus Military's understanding of the evolving aircraft design and the supply chain already established for the project's development and production phase.
“Such an approach allows the UK to take advantage of existing commercial arrangements, where these are already set up to drive cost effectiveness during the in-service phase,” said Mr Smart, “together with targeted competition wherever appropriate, for example in the area of maintenance repair and overhaul.”
The A400M programme is a European collaboration between Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Turkey and the UK. The programme has an order book of almost 200 aircraft with the UK ordering 25 to replace the RAF's C-130K Hercules.
A six-month delay has been announced to the first aircraft delivery schedule and first deliveries to France, Turkey, the UK and Germany. A MOD statement said partner nations were concerned at the delays and that each nation would be closely monitoring progress under the contract in accordance with the contract milestone process.
