Clearer Skies?

Nevertheless, within days of the fatal crash of May 9 an A400M development aircraft completed a test flight from the French city of Toulouse to Seville as scheduled,with Fernando Alonso, head of military aircraft at Airbus Defence and Space, acting as an onboard flight test engineer.

The company stated at the time that the A400M flight test program would continue unless there was evidence to suggest that it was not safe to fly.

This determination to press ahead in the face of adversity is mirrored in efforts to convince potential customers, including New Zealand, to place orders for what is being marketed by Airbus as the most versatile airlifter available.

Sales leads

So far the A400M has entered service with the French Armee de l’Air (seven aircraft), German Luftwaffe (one), Royal Malaysian Air Force (one), Turkish air force (two) and the UK Royal Air Force (four).

The order book stands at a total of 174 aircraft for the seven launch nations (including Belgium, Luxembourg and Spain) plus Malaysia, the first export customer, which joined the program in 2005.

The Royal Malaysian Air Force is set to receive four aircraft. The

Other than discussing a possible sale to NZ, Airbus is reluctant to name target countries for the A400M.

formal handover of its first A400M took place in March at the final assembly line in Seville.

“We are still pushing to get additional export contracts, and I feel we are on the right track,” said Antonio Rodriguez Barberan, head of sales for military aircraft at Airbus Defence and Space. “We think it is a game-changer, and we hope to prove it soon. ” Airbus is targeting more than 300 export sales over the next 30 years and hoping to secure 50 of those in the next five years, Rodriguez Barberan explained, addressing the media at the end of October at the company’s San Pablo site east of Seville, next to the airport.

“We are concentrating on Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and we will make some efforts in Latin America,” he said. “On purpose the US is not there; that does not mean that we think that plane cannot be there. Today we are concentrating where we are concentrating. ” In his presentation, Rodriguez Barberan alluded to proposals being put before nine potential customers for the airlifter, with “serious negotiations” under way, but did not provide further details.

The A400M is intended to be able to perform both long-range strategic missions and tactical missions directly to the point of need, as well as serving as an air-to-air refuelling tanker.

“We were thinking that the A400M was going to go really to the top edge of the market,” Rodriguez Barberan commented. “You realise that the decision is many times not driven by pure military doctrine, it is driven by political doctrine.

“Countries want to be able to participate in humanitarian missions, countries want to go to Antarctica, countries want to support earthquake [response efforts]. . . the governments are telling the air forces ‘you need to do these types of things’ and if you need to do these types of things you have to think of something like the A400M. ”

I can assure you the customer is very happy now to use this aircraft. KURT ROSSNER

Mixed fleet In the case of New Zealand, Airbus is putting forward the C295 tactical airlifter in addition to the A400M.

“We have been working with the [New Zealand] Ministry of Defence for I think maybe more than two and a half years, studying the requirement, putting in proposals,” Barberan said. “We are not only presenting the A400M, we are presenting the A400M and the 295, because I think that this will give you a combination of solutions. ” The Royal New Zealand Air Force operates five C-130H Hercules transports and six P-3K2 Orion maritime surveillance aircraft, noted Fernando Ciria, marketing director for light and medium aircraft; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; and unmanned aircraft systems at Airbus Defence and Space.

“Our idea has been to promote in New Zealand the concept of a combined configuration. . . C295 with capacity for military transport and as well for maritime surveillance,” Ciria said when questioned by Australian Aviation.

“In our view, at this moment the Ministry of Defence is starting to prepare the team that will evaluate a future program for a medium-sized transport/maritime patrol [aircraft],” he continued. “We have done an initial proposal of four planes for military transport/maritime patrol, but this is only a starting point from our side for communicating with the New Zealand Ministry of Defence. ” New Zealand is looking to replace its ageing Hercules fleet and two Boeing 757-200 transport aircraft between 2018 and 2025, according to its 2014 Defence Capability Plan, with the Future Air Mobility project intended to quantify airlift requirements.

As for the possible sale of the A400M to Australia – longer term it might be considered a C-130J replacement – Defence told Australian Aviation that it is at least keeping an eye on progress.

“Defence monitors the A400M along with many other aircraft programs, while Airbus routinely keeps Defence and other potential customers informed of program developments,” a spokesperson stated on November 5. The A400M visited Australia for the first time earlier this year, although no formal assessment of the airlifter was conducted by Defence at the time.

The French air force aircraft known as MSN14 was shown off at the 2015 Avalon Airshow to officials from Australia and New Zealand, including Helene Quilter, NZ Secretary of Defence.

Other than discussing a possible sale to New Zealand, Airbus is reluctant to name target countries for the A400M.

“We have several campaigns running, but we are not able now to give you a detailed plan of the exports,” said Kurt Rossner, who took over as head of the A400M program in April.

Rossner explained that any country that operates the C-130 is considered to be a potential customer for the A400M, as are those that already use the C295.

“We are in close discussions with several nations to come closer to the signature of a contract,” he declared in a presentation to the media at San Pablo.

Delivering capability

Powered by four counter-rotating Europrop International TP400-D6 turboprop engines, the A400M is said to be capable of flying up to 4,700nm at a cruising altitude of 37,000ft and speed of up to Mach 0. 72.

With a maximum payload of 37 tonnes, the airlifter has an operating range of 1,780nm; with what Airbus regards as a typical payload of 20 tonnes, its operating range is 3,450nm.

Although the A400M is marketed on the Airbus Defence and Space website as being capable of refuelling “any type of aircraft and helicopter”, program manager Rossner cast doubt on the feasibility of realising this ambition.

“We have not abandoned the capability,” he insisted, referring to a plan to enable the airlifter to refuel helicopters in flight. “But given the aerodynamic structure of this aircraft it will be very difficult to achieve. “We will for sure try with some technical studies on it, but the probability to achieve this technology, to have the A400M as a tanker for helicopters, is nearly impossible [given the] technical capabilities and aerodynamic structure of the aircraft; nevertheless, we have not abandoned the task. ” Airbus is aiming to deliver between 13 and 17 aircraft this year, with the final four deliveries for 2015 subject to flight test results.

“The accident with the Turkish aircraft MSN23, this was affecting us for several months,” Rossner said. “We continued producing the aircraft, but for the delivery of the aircraft that is the reason that for the end of the year we have an increased number of aircraft in the handover process. ” The production rate has been ramped up from seven or eight aircraft last year to 18 this year and 23 or more next year, he said.

Situation report

Giving a summary of the status of the A400M program, Rossner listed a number of bullet points at the end of his presentation that highlight some of the challenges Airbus is facing, as well as the company’s efforts to get back on track, including: customer relationship substantially rebuilt; execution of industrial recovery plan on track; previous maturity issues closely managed to secure deliveries and fleet availability; and good progress on contractual issues.

“After the crash of MSN23, we recognised that the streamlining of the organisation was one essential [area that] we have to work on,” he said.

“The customer relationship after several years was one area where we had to improve dramatically, because this aircraft is not just an aircraft that we want to build; we have to deliver to the customer and the customer has to be happy to use it. ” Airbus is keen to point out that real-world use of the A400M by existing customers speaks for itself.

“Based on several discussions I had over the last month with the customer I can assure you the customer is very happy now to use this aircraft; still waiting for increased capabilities, but we promise by next year to dramatically upgrade and improve these capabilities,” Rossner added.

Accident investigation

Airbus declined to provide a detailed briefing on MSN23 at the time of its series of presentations to the media in October, so as not to pre-empt the release of the final report on the accident.

But the company said at the beginning of June that preliminary analysis suggested that three of the aircraft’s four engines had “experienced power frozen” while all other systems appeared to have been performing normally.

“Engines one, two and three experienced power frozen after lift-off and did not respond to the crew’s attempts to control the power setting in the normal way, whilst engine four responded to throttle demands,” Airbus said in a statement.

“When the power levers were set to ‘flight idle’ in an attempt to reduce power, the power reduced but then remained at ‘flight idle’ on the three affected engines for the remainder of the flight, despite attempts by the crew to regain power. ” Then on June 19 the company stated that it was about to restart A400M deliveries following the lifting of all remaining flight restrictions on new production aircraft.

It has been a difficult year for Airbus and the A400M program, to say the least.

Looking ahead, the outlook for the airlifter was reflected in the weather forecast in Seville on the day of the briefings, according to the program manager. “Clouds, but the sun is coming,” Rossner said.