What could be better to avoid traffic jams and the multitude of public transport than to come to the Aeronautical Hall in Bourget by plane? Emmanuel Macron arrived this Friday for an A400M military transport aircraft to visit the show, which opened its doors to the general public. He had opened this same fair in 2017, shortly after his first choice, he also arrived with the Airbus defense and space plane.
This Thursday, June 19, the Air Force and the space pronounced the complete operational capacity of the aircraft, that is, it is now capable of carrying out all the missions for which it has been designed. And there are many.
The A400M is a military transport plane but not only. With its 42 meters of 42 meters, its four contribution engines of 11,000 horsepower each, its ability to take up to 37 tons of equipment (40 tons in the future) and 116 people, Pardo, as it was nicknamed during the tests, was designed as a versatile transport plane.
A story full of events and full
The A400M is a plane whose history goes back in the mid -1980s. Desire is to create a cooperation plane in several European countries: Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, United Kingdom and Turkey. These countries placed in 2003 for a total of 174 aircraft, France undertakes to acquire 50.
The program never stops accumulating delays in development and leads Airbus accounts after the year. At an estimated cost of 20 billion euros in 2003, the program increased to more than 30 billion in 2019. According to a statement made by BFM Bourse, Airbus spent about 3.8 billion euros in positions related to the A400M in its accounts between 2017 and 2024.
An industrial risk
The most important theme currently for Airbus Defense & Space is export. At the moment, only Kazakhstan, Indonesia and Malaysia have bought the A400M, eight aircraft in total, far from the ambitions shown in documents dating from 2014, which estimated the market in 300-400 airplanes …
In the absence of orders, the production chain should have been stopped in 2027. But France and Spain offer additional respiration to the program: the two countries have signed a letter of intention for additional orders, four for France, which will allow maintaining production in 8 planes per month until 2028.
This leaves an additional respite to Airbus Defense & Space to sign export contracts. The industrialist points up to 30 orders by 2030. Among the countries that would be the most plausible, Poland and the United Arab Emirates. “Wait and look.”
A plane, several missions
The Air and Espace Army and the first nation to receive the A400M, the first plane was delivered in September 2013 at the Orleans Air Base. She “cleanses some plaster”, but participates in the gradual validation of the plane’s capabilities.
First for simple transport logistics missions (passengers, helicopters, tanks, etc.), before exploring the tactical capabilities of the plane: paratrooper release, storms, summarized land, transport of injuries … but also, after many efforts, the fact of supplying helicopters, a rare capacity in Europe, and in the world.
The A400M also unfolds for assistance and missions of humanitarian evacuations: it carried out rotations in the Caribbean after the approval of Hurricane Irma in 2017, evacuated from the French citizens of Kabul in August 2021, from Sudan in 2023 and participated in a true “air bridge” between the meeting and Mayotte in December 2024 and January 2025 after the Ciclone Chido.
Take drones and missiles
The A400M capabilities will evolve soon, may carry out even more missions. First, it can be operated by special forces, with the integration of “plug and play” kits for intelligence, surveillance, recognition missions, for example. Other equipment, such as communication antennas, will require structural changes, is explained in Airbus: “It is not just a camera that must be installed.”
In the future, the A400M can also release missiles, bombs, drones. A capacity that has been the subject of greater interest in Bourget Show, with projects under study with MBDA and Safran.
It can also serve as a command and control center, explains the director of the General Directorate of Armament: “It will not replace the A330 MRTT or the AWACS, but can serve as a communication relay.”
A true “Swiss knife” for military operations, but also a notable marketing argument for the export perspectives that take to materialize.
Source: BFM TV
