The UK Royal Air Force is gearing up to receive its first Airbus A400M tactical transport, having accelerated the schedule for receiving 22 of the type.
Lead UK aircraft MSN15 is at Airbus Defence & Space’s San Pablo final assembly site near Seville, Spain, and is expected to make its first flight around three weeks from now. The airlifter – which had originally been in production for France, until a delivery slot swap was agreed between the nations – will then be painted in RAF colours before a planned delivery target in September, the company says.
“We are very excited to have the A400M Atlas arriving into the Air Mobility force in the Autumn,” says Air Cdre Jon Ager, assistant chief of staff capability delivery (air mobility and air enablers). “Its introduction into service represents the greatest step change in tactical capability since the introduction of the [Lockheed Martin] C-130J.”
Airbus recently detailed a plan to deliver the RAF’s first four aircraft this year. The service expects to have received 10 by the end of 2015, a further six the following year and its remaining examples by mid-2018.
Noting that deliveries are to occur at an average rate of one aircraft roughly every month and a half, Ager says: “Our ramp-up is incredibly quick, so we have really got to be on our game with the training programme, and also for the support.”
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Speaking to Flight Daily News exclusively at the Royal International Air Tattoo on 11 July, Ager also outlined the RAF’s service introduction plan for the type.
“Over the next two years or so, we will build on the inherent strategic capability of the platform and training system, to prepare for the high-end tactical operating environment,” he says.
The service is working to “put in place the cohesive relationships required between ourselves, industry and all stakeholders in order to support the aircraft throughout its entire life”, he adds.
To be flown from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, the UK’s Atlas fleet is to replace the service’s retired C-130Ks. Powered by four Europrop International TP400-D6 engines, the new type has an operational payload of up to 32t.
Source: Flight Daily News
