Airbus Revs Up for A400M Production

Airbus Defense and Space is preparing for a massive increase in production of A400M strategic and tactical military airlifter. Two A400M’s were delivered to the French military last year and one was sent to Turkey. This year the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence is poised to receive the first of 22 ordered A400Ms in September, Airbus officials told Military​.com.

“This is the most advanced transport aircraft in the world. We will deliver 11 aircraft this year and 20 next year. By the end of 2015, we expect to be producing new A400Ms at a rate of 2.1 aircraft per month,” a spokesman for Airbus Defense and Space said here at the Farnborough International Airshow.

The airlifter is engineered for a range of missions to include cargo transport, troop transport, humanitarian relief, paratrooper missions, air-to-air refueling and missions that require an austere landing such as the ability to land on a dirt strip, Airbus officials said.

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