Unveiled To Public Thursday In Spain

The Airbus A400M, the first all-new military airlifter produced in over 30 years, made its first public appearance Thursday at the production line in Seville, Spain.

At a ceremony presided over by His Majesty Juan-Carlos I of Spain, the first aircraft was revealed to its customers, government officials and an international body of journalists.

Airbus says the A400M will introduce a new set of standards to the domain of military airlift -- a market dominated for some 30 years by the Lockheed C-130. To date, 192 orders have been received from nine customer nations, comprising Belgium, France, Germany, Luxemburg, Malaysia, South Africa, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

Not all is rosy with the A400M, however. In development for over 20 years, the plane has been repeatedly delayed due to a variety of factors. As ANN reported earlier this week, Airbus CEO Thomas Enders conceded first flight of the A400M wouldn't take place until late summer or early fall... about three months later than previous estimates.

Optimized for both logistic and tactical operations and capable of transporting payloads of up to 37 tonnes over distances of up to 4700 nm, the A400M offers twice the capability of the aircraft it will replace. It also offers the potential for enhanced interoperability in international missions involving "coalitions of the willing" for both humanitarian and peace-keeping missions.

With an initial contract worth some 20 billion Euros, the program was launched in 2003 under a single contract between Airbus Military and OCCAR (Organisation Conjointe de Cooperation en matiere d,Armement), the single contracting organization representing the customers.

FMI: www.airbusmilitary.com