Being called for a long time “the future large aircraft”, the transporter, Airbus A400M, was designed to meet the military needs of the Italian, Belgian, French, German, Spanish, Turkish and English forces. In 1993, a European staff target was created along with a memorandum of understanding which was signed by all the governments of the seven countries. Later after signing, Italy retired from the programmer. In May 2003, Airbus A400M was ordered by the European procurements agencies of each of the involved countries respectively after a develop and produce contract was signed between Organization for Joint Armament Cooperation and Airbus.

The nations ordered different units of the aircraft as follows: seven units for Belgium, fifty for France, sixty – Germany, one for Luxembourg, twenty-seven for Spain, ten for Turkey and twenty-five for the UK. Deliveries will continue until the year of 2020, first production of the Airbus A400M units being started in January 2005, the first final assembly beginning in August 2007. The greatly awaited Airbus A400M took its first flight on the 11th of December, 2009.

The aircraft possesses a much larger capacity than the C-130 and C-160 Transall, its design extensively using composite materials. The plane is equipped with high-flotation six-wheel main landing gear, being reliable for quickly and softly landing on a field and effectively taking-off. For deployments consisting of flexibility and rapidity, the model is able to uptake high-cruise speeds and to maintain that speed for long-range courses.

The Airbus A400M presents two side stick controllers in the cockpit, installed to give the pilot the possibility of not having a restricted view of electronic displays. The throttle controls are placed in between the pilot stations. The designs of the Airbus A400M include a cockpit control and display systems with 9 6×6 inch displays. They also digital head-up displays which feature liquid crystal display and improved vision systems in order to enhance the situation awareness, auto fuel tank inverting, EMCOM swapping, easier switching, screens that aren’t cluttered automated tanker and fuel control receiver.

The TP400-D6 turboprop model was chosen to be the engine for the Airbus A400M by Airbus Industries in May 2003. There are four engines, each with a maximum shaft horsepower outcome of eleven thousand. EuroProp International states that these are the largest engines of their kind ever made in the West. They are fitted with digital engine control with full authority, provided by BAE Systems.

Airbus A400M Pictures Gallery