John Fedup
The Bunker Group
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- #181
From a Canadian POV, India’s procurement C-Fs aren’t that much worse than ours.
A400m
- Thread starter John Fedup
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Ananda
The Bunker Group
2+4 option with Multirole Tankers and Transport configuration. I only put the announcement in here, I'm ranting enough already in Indonesian AF thread.
That makes it a new aircraft.
Sandhi Yudha
Well-Known Member
Agree, even buying the An-124 design from Antonov, followed by replacing the turbofans with 8 TP400-D6 turboprops will be more cost effective.
Was NZ really going to buy them? I don’t think so, they had plenty of opportunity and didnt. Canada also has lots of time to buy more, they bought 1 extra. As I said Boeing gave its current and potential customers plenty of notice that if they wanted To order more they should do it now.
John Fedup
The Bunker Group
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #187
Can’t really comment on NZ, I think there was a intention to buy but the government just couldn’t move forward on the acquisition for what ever reason. In Canada’s case, the RCAF fully understood the need for more and some in the bureaucracy did as well. Junior dragged the acquisition for additional jets out as long as possible then only authorized one more. Perhaps he thought Boeing was only kidding about closing down the line and could buy more later. Best guess, he had no intention of buying more.
The German Air Force has begun preparations for deploying a A400M on MEDEVAC flights both domestically and to nearby other countries to evacuate Covid patients from South and Southeast Germany.
To my knowledge there have been only two such flights by German A400M Medevac before, one from Afghanistan and one from Strasbourg. Other military and civilian Covid Medevac flights - e.g. from Italy or Lithuania - were handled by either a A310 MRTT in Medevac config or by "white fleet" A310 Medevac.
France and the UK have been the main users of modified A400M in Covid-related intensive care Medevac flights so far, the latter to evacuate patients from various Scottish islands. Spain also has a single A400M now specifically converted for such intensive care flights since ca May this year, although to my knowledge it hasn't used it yet (a Spanish flight from Djibouti returning 23 infected from EUNAVFOR Atalanta, like most similar flights of other user countries, was done with a "standard" A400M).
To my knowledge there have been only two such flights by German A400M Medevac before, one from Afghanistan and one from Strasbourg. Other military and civilian Covid Medevac flights - e.g. from Italy or Lithuania - were handled by either a A310 MRTT in Medevac config or by "white fleet" A310 Medevac.
France and the UK have been the main users of modified A400M in Covid-related intensive care Medevac flights so far, the latter to evacuate patients from various Scottish islands. Spain also has a single A400M now specifically converted for such intensive care flights since ca May this year, although to my knowledge it hasn't used it yet (a Spanish flight from Djibouti returning 23 infected from EUNAVFOR Atalanta, like most similar flights of other user countries, was done with a "standard" A400M).
It got to Cabinet for final approval, but the decision was made not too for purely political purposes because the then PM (John Key) wasn't willing to spend the political capital. The then Minister of Defence (Gerry Brownlie) pushed hard for the acquisition and he was in the Kitchen Cabinet. It was Big Gerry's idea to go after the C-17A in the first place.
According to Defence Connect Indonesia has a firm order for 2 A400's with a further 4 to come at a later stage.
Indonesia orders Airbus Atlas aircraft - Defence Connect
Indonesia orders Airbus Atlas aircraft - Defence Connect
No need to rely on 3rd party reports: get it straight from the horse's mouth. The Defence Connect article isn't quite a straight cut & paste of part of the press release but it's damned close. Just a few minor tweaks, & omitting the marketing stuff -
Indonesia Ministry of Defence orders two Airbus A400Ms | Airbus
2 on order plus a letter of intent for 4 more. I expect Airbus will try hard to make sure everything goes smoothly with the first pair to get that LOI turned into an order. The A400M could do with more orders. It's a long time since the last one.
Indonesia Ministry of Defence orders two Airbus A400Ms | Airbus
2 on order plus a letter of intent for 4 more. I expect Airbus will try hard to make sure everything goes smoothly with the first pair to get that LOI turned into an order. The A400M could do with more orders. It's a long time since the last one.
John Fedup
The Bunker Group
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #192
It seems most of the promised features are now available and apparently the turboprop issues are resolved. For nations that should have ordered more C-17s ( think Canada), A400Ms could pickup some of the lift missions that fall between our C-130Js and C-17s. The A400M is now a reasonable alternative to the Hercules for many Air Forces that need some extra lift capability.
The last order was in September, 2 for Kazakhstan.
Sandhi Yudha
Well-Known Member
It is actually more surprising that Kazakhstan became an A400M customer, than Indonesia.
I had expected they will order some Il-76MD-90A. And didn't they ordered also eight Shaanxi Y-8?
On the other hand, they already use the CASA C295, and probably the Kazakhstan Air Force is satisfied about it.
I forgot about that one. The first for many years - but now there've been two (albeit both small) in a few months.
Since they cut production gradually in 2018-2020 there's currently sufficient orders on the table to keep the line going at its current rate until about 2031. Even if they turned it back up to full production rate they'd be producing until about 2026. The options in various contracts would be another 1-2 years of production.
(The current lowered production rate of 8/year was reasoned for due to running out of parking space for finished aircraft during those gearbox problems, which technically has been solved since).
So have they fixed the outstanding problems with the aircraft now? Are the aircraft coming off the production line fully up to specification?
To my knowledge there was a fix for the gearbox problems available by late 2017. It took about a year to get approved though and a bit longer to be integrated. In the meantime they negotiated with customers to gradually reduce production rate beginning in 2018 (from 19 to 15, then to 12, then to 8 now) since they basically had a tarmac full of A400M that needed the fix applied before delivery.
A permanent fix - changes to the engine - was developed and has been agreed to become standard on all aircraft coming off the line beginning July 2022 (according to the German Air Force). Older aircraft will be refitted in parallel over the next couple years, for Germany this is planned to conclude April 2027 (after last deliveries from the line in 2026).
Thanks kato.
Sandhi Yudha
Well-Known Member
Germany and the UK have reduced their orders, do you think that that also influenced the production rate? Or will the cancelled A400M just constructed and then later stored, while searching for export customers?