A400M

[ngatimozart]

A couple of interesting articles about the A400M on Second Line of Defence.

Enhanced Maintainability: The New Grizzly’s Trail
At the Farnborough Air Show last July (2010), Second Line of Defense sat down with Richard Thompson, Senior Vice President for Customer Services from Military Airbus to discuss how the design and development process enables greater maintainability and reliability for the A400M.

Flying the A400M
This has a couple of videos in it.

[ngatimozart]

Slideshow from Seville 29 - 30/5/2013.
Airbus Military held their annual Trade Media Brief event on May 29 and 30th 2013 in Seville, Spain. Featured was the A400M, for this is the year of initial deliveries of the aircraft to two customers, France and Turkey. In this slideshow, several views of the A400M are provided. Some shots were taken in flight as journalists were invited to fly on the aircraft for more than an hour, for each of two flights.

[ngatimozart]

A couple of articles from Flight Global. One directly A400 related and the other indirectly.

A400M delivery to launch export drive, says Airbus Military "Entry into service is the real starting point for us for a marketing campaign," Gautier says. "Our potential customers want to have a clear view of the aircraft being used by launch operators." Airbus Military officials say it is already negotiating possible deals with several undisclosed nations, with the company having previously described opportunities as existing in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

[Cedric] Gautier believes a new export order could potentially be agreed within the next 18- to 24-months, although one production slot is available for delivery during 2016, should a buyer emerge in time.

With Germany having previously expressed a desire to operate just 40 of its originally planned 60 and already revised 53 A400Ms, France's publication of a new defence White Paper in April also hinted at a need for a potentially reduced fleet than the 50 it is under contract to receive.

Airbus Military boss mulls future medium transport offering Speaking in Seville on 29 May, Ureña-Raso said the company's next development task could be to create an offering to fit below the size of the C-130 Hercules. Possible payload capacities for such a product could be in the 9t area already occupied by the current C295, or in the "16-18t" sector, he said.

[ngatimozart]

Airbus Aims at Huge Export Market for A400M
(Source: defense-aerospace.com; published May 14, 2013)
www.defense-aerospace.com/articles-view/feature/5/144962/airbus-aims-at-huge-a400m-export-market.html
By Giovanni de Briganti

SEVILLA, Spain --- Now that its A400M has won its European certification, and with the first production aircraft due to be delivered to the French air force later this month, Airbus Military is ready to begin to seriously market the aircraft world-wide.

“Until now, we’ve been really focused on certification and on making sure that production deliveries go through as planned, with no last-minute hitches,” says Damien Allard, Airbus Military’s market development manager. “Now this is done, we can move on to the next job, which is international sales,” he told defense-aerospace.com April 25.

Thanks to 174 orders (170 from the program partners and 4 from Malaysia), the A400M took a 32% share of the Western world’s heavy lift market during the past decade (2002-2013); Boeing’s C-17 has 27% with 145 aircraft while the market leader, Lockheed Martin’s C-130J, has a 41% share with 218 aircraft sold.

Flexibility Is Main Sales Pitch

Airbus Military’s main sales pitch is that the A400M, larger and more capable than the C-130J and more flexible than the C-17, offers a multi-mission capability than either competitor, since a single A400M can be used for tactical transport to soft, unprepared airfields near the front line; for strategic transport of large payloads over long distances, and – after two hours’ modification work – as an aerial tanker.

Furthermore, notes Allard, “it can carry 90% of equipment in service with Western militaries; the remaining 10%, mainly main battle tanks, heavy self-propelled artillery and such,” are generally sea-lifted or airlifted by Antonov An-124. And, he adds, the A400M offers nearly twice the payload over the same range as the stretched C-130J-30, or the same payload over twice the range.

In fact, Airbus briefing slides claim an A400M can carry a payload of 20 metric tonnes over 3,450 nautical miles, whereas with the same payload the C-130J-30’s range is of only 1,600 nm. The C-17’s performance is immaterial, as that aircraft has nearly reached the end of its production life.

Several A400Ms are visible on the final assembly line here, including MSN 9, the first aircraft due to be delivered to Turkey later this year; three aircraft will also be delivered to France.

The A400M’s production rate could prove something of an obstacle to future export sales. Airbus officials say it will gradually increase to 2.5 aircraft per month by 2015, or roughly 26-27 per year. This means that Airbus will need more than six years to deliver the 172 aircraft ordered by its original partner countries, so unless these are willing to surrender delivery slots a new buyer would not be able to receive its own A400Ms until after the turn of the decade. Such a wait could well prove dissuasive, especially since it would increase with each successive export order.

Airlift in France’s Operations in Mali

Using open sources, Airbus Military also looked at how France deployed its forces to Mali for operation Serval, and at how the A400M would have fared in the same mission.

Most significantly, France had to use C-17 and An-124 transports to ferry heavy equipment to Mali (a distance of 2,200 nautical miles), as neither its C-160 Transalls nor its C-130s can carry outsize loads.

The heavy carriers had to land in Bamako, about 900 km from the operations area, as they require concrete runways. This forced the French army to drive its heavy vehicles from Bamako to Gao – a 5-day trip for convoys – to get them where they were needed.

The A400M, Allard says, would have been able to fly its loads directly to Gao, Timbuktu or Kidal - a distance of 1,945 nm from France. The A400M is unique in that it can deliver “a 25-tonne (55,000 lb) payload into a 750 m (2500 ft) unpaved airstrip,” he says.

Lockheed C-130J Is Only Direct Competitor

Other simulations carried out by Airbus Military claim that “4 A400Ms offer the same productivity as 9 C-130J-30s,” Allard says, adding “But the A400M fleet has 35% lower Life-Cycle Costs than the C-130J fleet.” He however declined to say what LCC prices for both aircraft were used for the comparison.

The comparison with the C-130J is particularly significant as this will be the A400M’s primary competitor over the coming decades. And as over 2,500 C-130s were built (Flight International estimates the global C-130 fleet, including the C-130J, at 1,130 aircraft), and it is in service with 72 countries over 50 years after it entered production, the replacement market is both huge and imminent.

Lockheed hopes the C-130J variant will take up much of this market since, as it notes on its website, “the C-130J is always the logical, low risk, proven answer.” Hardly a ringing endorsement of its capabilities, certainly, but these arguments could prove persuasive for countries which do not need strategic airlift. And operators of older C-130s, for whom the C-130J allows savings in terms of personnel training and logistic environments, could also prefer to buy the “J”, as the fact that 15 countries have bought it can attest.

After capabilities, costs are a major factor for prospective buyers. According to the latest US Air Force fact sheet, the C-130J costs $48.5 million (in FY 1998 constant dollars), which works out to about $70 million in today’s inflation-adjusted dollars. However, the single C-130J bought by the US Air Force in FY 2012 cost $186.4 million (see comptroller.defense.gov/defbudget/fy2013/FY2013_Weapons.pdf, page 12).

No recent price estimate is available for the A400M; a recent news story in the Telegraph Online puts the program’s acquisition cost at $3.26 billion for 22 aircraft, or a unit cost of about £140 million; or about $192 million. If confirmed, this would make the A400M very competitive compared to the C-130J.


Article history:
-- updated May 18 to correct the number of aircraft on order (174, not 172), to clarify heavy vehicle transport capabiity, and for minor editing for style.


-ends-

Note the capability comparison to the C130J, the claimed costs and the price comments. So if 4 x A400s can do the job of 9 x C130Js then it would be a great capability for NZ.

[ngatimozart]

This is a link to the Think Defence blog about the A400. The link is for Part 3 - A Multi Purpose Platform. It's a good read.

[ngatimozart]

PARIS: TP400 partners power up for A400M
By: Craig Hoyle Paris
08:15 18 Jun 2013
www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/paris-tp400-partners-power-up-for-a400m-387292/

Just over 10 years on from the signature of a combined development and production contract for the A400M, one of the programme's first pair of customer aircraft is making its public debut.

The appearance at Le Bourget of aircraft MSN8 has some similarities with that of the A400M development example that took part in the last Paris air show. It will make a brief flypast of the site, before touching down and taking its place on the static display line.

But, unlike in 2011, the limited flying time will be intentional, and not the result of a gearbox issue, which restricted operations as the show loomed two years ago. With the future French air force aircraft having only performed its debut flight in Seville, Spain on 7 June and the type yet to enter operational service, the A400M's display commitments will instead be met by an Airbus Military crew flying a "Grizzly".

Traced to a crack in an idler gear caused by greater than expected vibration levels encountered earlier in the programme, the issue has now been resolved, via the use of a thicker gear wall by Italian supplier Avio.

"We know what the issues were, and we've deliberately mitigated against those," says Simon Henley, president of the Europrop International (EPI) consortium responsible for delivering the aircraft's TP400-D6 turboprop engines. "We've now got a gearbox that we're very comfortable with," he adds, describing Avio as "a very strong partner on the programme".

With a need to handle a maximum available power of 10,700shp (7,980kW) per engine, or just over 11,000shp for "hot and high" operations, "There's an incredible amount of power density in that gearbox," he notes.

The result of a four-nation collaboration between Snecma (with a 32% stake), Rolls-Royce (25%), MTU (22%) and ITP (21%), the three-shaft design drives an eight-bladed Ratier-Figeac propeller more than 5m (16.4ft) in diameter. Total engine weight is 908kg (2,000lb).

EPI secured full civil certification for the engine during 2011, the first time that the propulsion system for a European military aircraft had gone through the process with EASA. More than 27,000 running hours have been accumulated to date, including in excess of 17,000 flight hours powering five development and two production aircraft. "Our lead engine has about 1,500h, and we are seeing no performance deterioration," Henley says.

By 21 May, the company had delivered 28 engines for use with Airbus Military's five-strong fleet of "Grizzly" development aircraft, plus 16 for production aircraft up to MSN10: the last of four A400Ms to be handed over to customers this year. The company has also delivered initial spare engines for the French air force.

In addition to the gearbox resolution, EPI has also addressed a bearing cover plate issue encountered during flight test. The problem - which last year interrupted a vital phase of so-called function and reliability testing - has led EPI to already test the maximum capacity of its production set-up for the engine during a retrofit activity performed on MTU's final assembly line in Munich, Germany. This has five main production docks, and a normal staffing level of around 30 personnel.

"We have already been running at 10 engines per month for a couple of months," says Gerhard Bähr, the company's TP400 programme director. "That is a level we were due to achieve in 2015, at full-rate production."

MTU achieved the surge in activity by drawing in engineers working on the Eurofighter's Eurojet EJ200 turbofan engine and providing engine MRO activities for other military types, including for the Panavia Tornado elsewhere on its site, which in total employs around 5,000 people across all programmes.

"That was the intention, when we brought all the programmes that we have to Munich," says Bähr. MTU had previously performed the final assembly of early TP400s in Berlin.

It now takes 35 days to assemble, test, qualify and ship a TP400, having fallen from 50.

Airbus Military in February disclosed that the engines on the first three production A400Ms would be changed after two years as a result of retrofit requirements. A critical design review will be performed in June on a new alloy casing, which will resolve an excess heating issue on the engine nacelle, also discovered during flight testing.

Affected engines will be stripped to modules and have the part replaced in a retrofit programme which will be "as near as possible invisible to the engines," says Henley. "That will get us to the [engine] design life of 30,000h."

Unusually, the TP400's full authority digital engine control system manages the whole propulsion system, also including its propellers, nacelles and bleed air.

Capabilities including a health and usage monitoring system and a built-in test for lifetime management will be added, following the first production aircraft. "We will be on-condition throughout the life of the programme," he says.

Design innovations including the use of blisks - single machined pieces, rather than multiple blades - in the intermediate and high-pressure compressors - respectively produced by MTU and R-R - have helped to reduce weight and increase durability. The German company in mid-April opened a new blisk production facility in Munich, which in time will manufacture up to 3,500 units per year, predominantly for use with commercial aero engines.

"There is no doubt we have got a state-of-the-art engine," says Henley. Fuel consumption is "better than specification by some margin", he says, citing a figure of more than 1%.

Looking towards air force operations with France, an industry arrangement at Orléans air base covers spares provision and on-site repairs, with a 24h advice service also to be available with EPI and its partner companies. EPI is already in talks with Turkey and the UK for similar arrangements.

"Our focus for the rest of this is on in-service support," says Henley. "Then the big deliveries can start." By the time Airbus Military achieves full-rate production of the A400M in 2015, EPI will be delivering the engines for individual transports just one week before they are due to be installed on the wing. With current orders, it will deliver almost 1,000 TP400s, but more could follow.

"I'm very optimistic about the export opportunities," Henley says. "It's a niche aircraft, but it's a niche that's right at the heart of the military requirement."

[kiwiinoz]

Just had a A400M land at Riyadh Airbase Saudi Arabia this morning for a couple of days, must be trying to flog it the the Saudi's

[ngatimozart]

Uncut video of A400 display at Paris Airshow this month.

[Bruce]

Hopefully 40 Sqns Display at Whenuapai in 10 years time will look similar... although maybe with less silver tape on the wings!

[ngatimozart]

Oh yes

[beagle]

but without the refuelling probe and hopefully the radome painted the same colour as the rest of the fuselage etc

[ngatimozart]

Keep the refueling probe. They reckon it only takes an hour to fit / unfit them and capability we shouldn't ditch that.

[conman]

I think it would look better with winglets

[ngatimozart]

Airbus Military A400M Achieves First Military Standard Acceptance

www.defencetalk.com/airbus-military-a400m-achieves-first-military-standard-acceptance-48640/

By Airbus on Thursday, August 1st, 2013

Today the Airbus Military A400M new generation airlifter has received its Type Acceptance at the contractual Initial Operating Clearance (IOC) Standard from OCCAR, the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation, on behalf of the Launch Nations (Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom).

It represents a historic milestone of the A400M programme after 10 years of development and more than 5,000 flight test hours.

This first military standard acceptance is the last step prior to the aircraft acceptance of MSN7, the first serial aircraft, by the French Defence Procurement Agency DGA and its subsequent delivery to the French Air Force in the coming days.

The common basis for military certification was approved on 19 July following a recommendation by representatives of the seven launch nations known as the Certification and Qualification Committee (CQC). And Airbus Military accordingly received on 24 July the Military Type Certificate (Certificat de Type) for A400M aircraft from DGA.

The A400M is an all-new military airlifter designed to meet the needs of the world’s Armed Forces in the 21st Century. Thanks to its most advanced technologies, it is able to fly higher, faster and further, while retaining high maneuverability, low speed, and short, soft and rough airfield capabilities.

It combines both tactical and strategic/logistic missions. With its cargo hold specifically designed to carry the outsize equipment needed today for both military and humanitarian disaster relief missions, it can bring this material quickly and directly to where it is most needed. Conceived to be highly reliable, dependable, and with a great survivability, the multipurpose A400M can do more with less, implying smaller fleets and less investment from the operator.

The A400M is the most cost efficient and versatile airlifter ever conceived and absolutely unique in its capabilities.

[beagle]

Aug 1, 2013 16:45:56 GMT 12 ngatimozart said:

Airbus Military A400M Achieves First Military Standard Acceptance

www.defencetalk.com/airbus-military-a400m-achieves-first-military-standard-acceptance-48640/

The A400M is the most cost efficient and versatile airlifter ever conceived and absolutely unique in its capabilities.

I take it both Mr Douglas and Lockheed said that about their airlifters when they were first built too.

[ngatimozart]

French acceptance sees A400M deliveries take off

By: Craig Hoyle London 12 hours ago

www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/french-acceptance-sees-a400m-deliveries-take-off-389029/

After development and production activity lasting just over 10 years, Airbus Military's A400M military transport is now an in-service asset, following the delivery of lead aircraft MSN7 to the French air force.

France's DGA defence procurement agency on 1 August authorised the aircraft's acceptance, following several months of discussion with the manufacturer.

"This enables the aircraft to join tomorrow the French air base of Orléans-Bricy," Airbus Military says. A formal ceremony to mark the type's delivery will be staged at the company's San Pablo final assembly site in Seville, Spain, "after the summer break", it adds.

According to the manufacturer, MSN7 "will initially be used for the continuing training of aircrew, before becoming part of the French air force operational transport fleet". It will be followed by two more French A400Ms this year, under a 50-unit order for Paris.

Europe's OCCAR defence procurement agency signed a combined development and production deal for 180 A400Ms in May 2003, acting on behalf of programme partners Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, Turkey and the UK. Their combined order was revised down to 170 transports, plus 10 options in 2011, while Malaysia is also under contract to receive four of the type.

"Today is a truly historic day for the European aerospace industry, marking the moment at which it becomes the new global leader in the military transport sector with an entirely new aircraft," claims Airbus Military chief executive Domingo Ureña-Raso.

The acceptance milestone was confirmed one day after the European partner nations had formally approved the A400M's initial operational capability standard via OCCAR, and also followed Airbus Military's receipt of a military type certificate for the airlifter on 24 July.

Deliveries of the Europrop International TP400-D6-engined A400M had originally been planned to commence in late 2009. Seven examples - five "Grizzly" development aircraft and two production-series turboprops for France - have so far been flown, accumulating more than a combined 5,000h in the air.








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