Europe’s A400M aircraft programme now reaching major milestones

Airbus Military’s troubled A400M air- lifter programme is now progressing well, with the first production aircraft set to be delivered to the launch customer within a few months, Airbus group president and CEO Fabrice Brégier reported at the recent Airbus annual press conference. “We were in deep crisis, [but], since 2009, we have worked very hard.” He added: “The A400M programme was progressing very well until midsummer [2012]. Then we had maturity problems with the engine.”
The aircraft is powered by four Europrop International (EPI) TP400-D6 turboprop engines, the most powerful turboprops ever developed outside Russia. EPI is owned by ITP, MTU Aero Engines, Rolls-Royce and Snecma (part of the Safran group), with MTU, Rolls-Royce and Snecma being the largest shareholders, with 28% each (but Rolls-Royce also owns almost 47% of ITP). Brégier expressed his pleasure with the strength of the response of, in particular, Rolls-Royce and Safran to these problems.
As a result, Airbus Military was able to conclude the 300-hour function and reliability testing of the aircraft, which is a prerequisite for both military and civil aviation certification. “[Airbus Military] completed the reliability flight programme in 26 days,” he revealed. “The first big milestone has been achieved. The second will be entry into service.”

The A400M is expected to achieve military and civil certification during this quarter, and the first production aircraft – which was rolled out on January 15 – should be delivered to the French Air Force during the second quarter. By the end of this year, four production aircraft should have been delivered to the French Air Force and the Turkish Air Force (two each). Four A400Ms are currently in the final assembly stage and another 13 are in production.
The A400M has been designed to function as both a strategic and a tactical airlifter. In the strategic role, it is able to fly at Mach 0.72 (that is, at 72% of the speed of sound, which varies with altitude) at about 12 000 m (37 000 ft) and with a range of 6 390 km with a 20 t payload, or 4 535 km with a 30 t payload. Significant components of the A400M are designed and manufactured in South Africa by Aerosud and Denel Aerostructures, both of which are industrial partners in the programme.

The components that Aerosud is responsible for are mostly classified as secondary structures. These are the nose fuselage linings, the cargo hold linings, and cockpit linings, the cockpit rigid bulkhead and the nose fuselage galleys. But the company is also responsible for the wing tips, which are significant because they will contain elements of the aircraft’s defence aids subsystem.
Denel Aerostructures produces large primary structures, without which the aircraft cannot fly. These are the top shells for the centre fuselage section and the wing/fuselage fairings. The top shells can be thought of as being equivalent to roof panels. The company is producing two top shells for each aircraft – one in front of and one behind the wing box, which joins the wing to the fuselage. The wing/fuselage fairings are manufactured mainly from composite materials but include aluminium parts. Each such fairing is 15 m long, 7 m wide and nearly 3 m high.

Airbus Military is a “very important part of our business”, highlighted Brégier. It delivered 29 aircraft last year, comprising 20 light and medium transports (CN235s and C295s), five A330 multirole tanker transports (MRTTs) and four refitted and refurbished Lockheed P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft. Its order backlog, described by Brégier as “huge”, stands at 174 A400Ms, 17 A330 MRTTs, 20 C295s, five CN235s and four P-3s.