Who have got news about the airbus A400m. It's already a long time ago that I heard something about it. Have they started production yet?

I've never heard of it. Is it supposed to be a bigger version of the A380, because Airbus is working hard on that right now.

No, Its a cargo military plane, with 4 conventional engines (It's not a jet). The asembly line is about to start with the first units, and it will be all assembled in Spain.

http://www.airbusmilitary.com/gallery/a400mheadon1024.jpg

Who have got news about the airbus A400m. It's already a long time ago that I heard something about it. Have they started production yet?

I heared Italy withdrew its order, that's the only news I have.

Looks interesting, but very similar looking to the Hercules. I didn't even know that Airbus was planning on getting into the military aircraft business.

Looks interesting, but very similar looking to the Hercules. I didn't even know that Airbus was planning on getting into the military aircraft business.


http://www.airbusmilitary.com/

http://www.airbusmilitary.com/gallery/a400mdesert3400.jpg

I found this while searching on the internet.

The A400M is a future military transporter.
180 aircraft have been ordered: Belgium seven, France 50, Germany 60, Luxembourg one, Spain 27, Turkey ten and the UK 25 aircraft. The first aircraft is scheduled to fly in November 2007 with deliveries between 2009 and 2025. First deliveries will be to France and Turkey.

The A400M has a much larger payload than the C-160 Transall and C-130. The need for airdrops and tactical flight requires good low airspeed flight and the aircraft also has long range and high cruise speed for rapid and flexible deployment. It is capable of air-to-air refuelling as a receiver and can be converted to a two-point tanker within two hours. At 40000 feet the plane flies at Mach 0.72, almost the same speed as a commercial airplane.

The payload requirements include a range of military helicopters ( 2 apaches can fit in the A400m)
and vehicles, heavy engineering equipment, pallets and cargo containers.

The cargo bay can transport up to nine standard military pallets (2.23m x 2.74m), including two on the ramp, along with 58 troops seated along the sides or up to 120 fully equipped troops seated in four rows. For Medevac, it can carry up to 66 stretchers and ten medical personnel.

The A400M can air-drop paratroops and equipment either by parachute or gravity extraction.
A400M
http://www.airpictorial.com/media/a400m_3.jpg
c130
http://www.spectrumwd.com/c130/images/c130_293.jpg
c160
http://www.anft.net/f-14/photo-c160-03l.jpg

@MVK318: Are you sure that's a C-130? I thought a C-130 was made by Boeing and was a four jet engine behemoth that used a 747 frame. I live by Dobbins Air Reserve Base in northwest Atlanta, and Lockheed has a huge factory there that makes Hercules and there are always big four jet engine planes coming in, which I thought were C-130s. They are also going to build a large part of the F-22 Joint Strike Fighter there, if the US Congress agrees to buy enough.

This plane?
http://www.flysouth.co.za/news/archive/2003-12-12/2003-12-12%20images/c17-globemaster-01.jpg
This is a c17 globemaster

@MVL318: That's what I see all the time, and so does most of most of northwestern metro Atlanta. So that's actually a C-17 Globemaster.

The A400m compared to the C-17

The A400M and the C-17 have similar basic designs: Both are top-wing, four-engine, heavy lifters, with rear cargo doors and cargo holds designed to maximize payload-to-weight ratio. The C-17 cruises at 450 knots (Mach 0.74), carries a maximum payload of 77,519 kg/170,900 lb and can take off and land on runways as short as 914m/3,000 ft. The A440M expects similar speed (Mach 0.72) from its economically designed turboprop motors, but will bear a maximum payload of 37,000 kg/81,570 lb - half that of the C-17 - and will require a slightly longer 1,067m/3,500 ft minimum airstrip length. Composites will make up about 35 to 40 percent of the A400M's structural weight, with carbon fiber used in primary structures. By comparison, about 16,000 lb of composite materials have been applied to the C-17 aircraft (8 percent of the aircraft's structural weight), including on major control surfaces and secondary structural components.

Saab and Airbus sign contract for A400M

Saab AB and Airbus have today signed an agreement for the development and production of the crew entrance door for the A400M military transport aircraft.

“We are proud that Airbus has chosen Saab Aerostructures to develop and produce the crew entrance door for the A400M. We look forward to take part in the A400M project as a partner. We have enjoyed good cooperation with Airbus for many years, and the fact that they have chosen us as a supplier in this project shows that they have great confidence in us,” says Pontus Kallén, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Saab Aerostructures.
Saab Aerostructures will be responsible for development, production, and support of the crew door for the A400M. The first unit will be delivered to Airbus in 2006.

180 A400M aircraft have been ordered to date by seven European nations. Airbus Military, the prime contractor for the A400M, foresees market potential for a further two to three hundred aircraft around the world.

The A400 looks good.

New fact : The new turbopropeller of the A400M (EuroProp International TP400) has achieved his first testing rotations, at time :)

I can send you a scan of the article if someone is interested :)

9 December 2004
South Africa set to increase airlift capability

The following press release was issued by the Government of South Africa on 9 December 2004:

“Statement on participation in airbus design and manufacturing programme

Government is pleased to announce that it has accepted an invitation from Airbus Military for South Africa to participate in the A400M multi-role mission transport aircraft design and manufacture programme. In return, the Government has committed to procure and take delivery of between 8 and 14 aircraft as the programme matures between 2010 and 2014. The cost of 8 aircraft would be Euros 837 million.

Negotiations are currently underway between the Government and Airbus Military to determine the terms of agreement for the country’s participation. At the same time, Denel and Aerosud have engaged Airbus Military to develop the details of industrial partnership contracts around specific dedicated work-share packages that will become effective as soon as an agreement has been signed between Government and Airbus Military. We are confident that a Memorandum of Agreement will be signed in the coming weeks.

http://www.airbusmilitary.com/images/saflag.gif

www.airbusmilitary.com

Malaysia Might Order Airbus A400M: CASA President
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, MADRID

Malaysia may soon order European Airbus A400M military transport planes, and even U.S. orders are not out of the question, the head of Spanish aerospace group CASA told the daily La Gaceta de los Negocios in an interview published Jan. 24.

“We have just resumed negotiations with Malaysia and we hope in the short term to be able to announce an order,” Fernandez Sainz said, without giving further details.

Final assembly of the A400M is to take place in Seville, southern Spain under control of CASA, a member of Airbus’ main parent company, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS).

The transport plane for troops and light armored vehicles, Europe’s biggest joint weapons program, is to take flight in 2008, with initial deliveries scheduled for 2009.

“I think it is not crazy to think this plane could be sold in the United States, which does not have as competitive an aircraft,” Sainz said.

The A400M is designed to compete with the C-130 Hercules built by U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin.

In December, South Africa became the first country to order the A400M other than the seven involved in its development; Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey.

To date, 180 orders have been placed for the plane, development of which is expected to cost 20 billion euros ($26 billion).

http://defensenews.com/story.php?F=614972&C=asiapac

Why do they use propellers instead of jet engines? What's the advantage?

Why do they use propellers instead of jet engines? What's the advantage?


If you fire with a gun in a jet engine, it will explode very easily. Those are more resistants and can land then in a dangerous area.

26 January 2005
First production item for A400M airframe

Airbus Military has launched production of the first major airframe component for the A400M military airlifter.

“The event took place at a ceremony held in the Varel facility of Airbus Germany, where representatives of the seven launch customer nations joined government officials and members of the Airbus Military management team to witness the milling of the first lower fuselage frame.

One of eighteen such frames located in the centre fuselage section that will support the floor and carry the main fuselage structure, the 5.4 metre long element is milled from a single aluminium billet. Starting with a raw material mass of over two tonnes, the finished frame will weigh only 25 kg. 100% of the machined waste will be re-cycled.

The first metal cut for the A400M comes only 18 months after the programme launch, in May 2003, demonstrating that the rigorous timetable established for the new airlifter is being strictly respected. The lower fuselage frames are classified as long-lead items, hence the early start to manufacturing. They represent the beginning of a rapidly increasing industrial process, which will see more and more components put into production as work on their detailed design is completed.

“This truly marks the start of the A400M production phase”, said Adolfo Revuelta, Head of A400M Programme. “ We are proud to be able to demonstrate both to our customers and to the world that the well-proven Airbus industrial methodology is being successfully applied to our military programme.”

The A400M programme was launched in May 2003 when 180 A400M airlifters were ordered by seven European NATO nations: 60 for Germany; 50 for France; 27 for Spain; 25 for the UK; 10 for Turkey; 7 for Belgium and 1 for Luxemburg. The A400M will first fly in 2008 with first deliveries beginning from 2009.
www.airbusmilitary.com



A400M charateristics
Length: 41.80m
Wing span: 42.40m
Maximum range: 9,200km
Maximum speed: Mach 0.72
Maximum payload: 32,000kg

18 July 2005
Airbus Military signs agreement with Chile :banana2:

The FUERZA AEREA DE CHILE has signed a Declaration of Intent (DOI) with Airbus Military under which it indicates its intention to purchase up to three A400M military transport aircraft.

The DOI, signed on July 15th at the Chilean Ministry of Defence in Santiago by General Osvaldo Sarabia Vilches, Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Air Force, and Francisco Fernández-Sáinz, Managing Director of Airbus Military, is a further commitment for the A400M from a customer outside the group of seven European launch nations.

Subject to a detailed contract to be signed by December 2005, the declaration provides for Chile to take delivery of A400M aircraft between 2018 and 2022 and for Chilean industry to benefit from aerospace related industrial participation.

“I very much welcome this declaration by the Chilean Air Force,” said Francisco Fernández-Sáinz during the signature ceremony, “which strengthens our relationship with this important Latin American customer and demonstrates the growing confidence around the world in our new aircraft.”

The signature took place in the presence of the Chilean Minister of Defence, Snr.Jaime Ravinet De la Fuente, and the ambassadors of France, Germany, Spain and the UK.

The A400M will enable Chile to upgrade its airlift capability for military, humanitarian and peace-keeping activities and assist the country in strengthening its aerospace industry.

The A400M programme, was launched in May 2003 following a single order for 180 aircraft by seven European NATO nations.

The A400M, the world’s most modern military transport aircraft will first fly in 2008 with deliveries beginning from 2009.

The buying of these planes is a controversial issue in South Africa. It's argued that the country has too many social ills to have billions of Rands blown on military craft. To which I fully agree. I'd think that it would be far more beneficial economically,to buy A380's instead.

why that turboprop engine? why not 2 jet-engines like the Boeing 777?

or maybe 4.

this plane looks so old.... maybe designed in the years of 1960....

As I said, it's more resistant, I wouldn't want to be in a jet plane that has to land in a warzone.

After some months of silence there is a sign of life again, I almost thougt he (or she) was dead. :)


28 October 2005
First complete engine run for A400M

Rapid progress has been made on development of the Europrop TP400-D6 engine destined to power the A400M. On Friday October 28th this year, less than twelve months since the intermediate pressure compressor (IPC) tests in Munich in November 2004, a test run of the complete engine took place at MTU’s Berlin-Brandenburg facility in Ludwigsfelde, Germany.

The first engine run, which was entirely successful, took place before representatives of the participating European governments; members of OCCAR (Organisation Conjointe de Coopération en Matière d’Armement ), representing the European customers; representatives from Airbus Military and Europrop’s own shareholding partners, Rolls-Royce, MTU, SNECMA and ITP.

The engine performed exactly as expected and was run for a short period at reduced rpm. The during the test programme the engine will be run at progressively higher power outputs until attaining the full 11,000 shaft horsepower specified for the power-plant to be installed on the aircraft.

A total of ten TP400-D6 engines will be used during the test programme, covering all aspects of the performance envelope. This significant event demonstrates that the development of the new engine for the new airlifter is well on track.

A full engine test run, complete with the propeller, is due to take place early in 2006.

http://www.airbusmilitary.com/images/1stengine.jpg

A400M propeller

first pictures of the propeller, isn't it huge :runaway:

http://www.flightinternational.com/assets/getAsset.aspx?ItemID=10672

5.3m (17ft)-diameter

more on flightinternational (http://www.flightinternational.com/Articles/2005/12/08/Navigation/183/203524/First+pictures+of+A400M+propeller+released.html)

4 more orders for EADS

08 December 2005
Malaysia joins A400M programme

The Malaysian government has today signed a contract for the purchase from Airbus Military of four A400M military airlifters.

The contract, signed in Langkawi by Malaysia’s Secretary General for Defence, Tan Sri Subhan Jasmon brings the number of firm orders for A400M to 192 aircraft.

http://www.airbusmilitary.com/images/malaysia.gif
http://www.airbusmilitary.com/gallery/a400mdecoys1024.jpg


more on: airbusmilitary (http://www.airbusmilitary.com/pressrelease.html#081205)

question:

why dont they use propellers like that on aircrafts like a380 or 787, if they are so efficient on military aircrafts?

Well if you read the above posts, Détritus said that jet engines aren't used because they're more likely to blow up when shot at, not because they're more efficient.