Kazakhstan’s first A400M tactical transport has emerged from the paint shop at Airbus Defence & Space’s San Pablo final assembly site in Seville, Spain.
The Kazakh air force’s lead example of two on-order A400Ms, MSN139 will be handed over later this year, the airframer says.
Airbus’s defence unit describes the four-engined type’s colour scheme for Astana as “glossy grey”. The aircraft also sports the service number 21 and the Kazakh armed forces’ insignia: a “red and yellow star and a golden sun with 32 rays above a soaring golden steppe eagle”.
Almaty signed its A400M production contract in 2021, and plans to use the aircraft to “conduct military, civil and humanitarian missions”. Its air force already flies nine Airbus Defence & Space C295 medium transports.
Unlike previous examples of the A400M, Kazakhstan’s aircraft are not equipped with an in-flight refuelling probe, which is ordinarily installed above the cockpit’s left-hand seat.
Meanwhile, Airbus Defence & Space says it has now delivered more than 120 A400Ms, with the global fleet having accumulated over 180,000 flight hours.
The type is operated by Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Spain, Turkey and the UK, while Indonesia also has ordered two.
