More than 700 people celebrated the delivery of the first production A400M new generation airlifter to the French Air Force at a ceremony at the Airbus Military Final Assembly Line (FAL) at Seville, Spain on 30 September.
HRH Prince of Asturias, French Minister of Defence Jean-Yves Le Drian, Spanish Minister of Defence, Pedro Morenés, as well as other military authorities from France and other partner nations and OCCAR representatives attended the ceremony along with EADS CEO Tom Enders, Airbus Military CEO Domingo Ureña-Raso and more than 300 Airbus and Airbus Military staff.

The aircraft, the first of 50 ordered by France and of a total of 174 on order, will be based at Orleans - Bricy Air Base and initially used for training before being deployed on military and humanitarian missions.

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 advanced technologies, it is able to fly higher, faster and further, while retaining high manoeuvrability, excellent low speed handling, and the ability to use short and unpaved runways. It combines both tactical and strategic/logistic missions, and air-to-air refuelling. 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 survivable, 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.
 
Speaking on the occasion of the official delivery event, Ian Crawford, President of Europrop Internation (EPI) said: “Everyone at EPI, our partner companies and our supply chain would like to offer our congratulations to Airbus Military on this hugely significant occasion. It is a challenge to build an entirely new engine that rewrites the manual for turboprops but we have worked closely with Airbus over the development phase to deliver a truly game-changing military transport capability in the shape of this magnificent aircraft.”

“We now look forward to supporting the French Air Force and what I anticipate will be a large number of other military operators as this programme enters a new and exciting phase,” he added.

The A400M is powered by four of EPI’s TP400 engines, the most powerful turboprops in the Western world.

EPI has worked closely with Airbus Military and the customer community to establish an in-service support programme which includes around-the-clock technical, logistics and on-base support, similar to that used in the civil aerospace market. An engine maintenance facility has also been established in Bordeaux.

The TP400 engine achieved civil certification in May 2011 and has now amassed over 19,000 engine flight hours.

EPI Europrop International GmbH was created by four leading European aero-engine companies (Industria de Turbo Propulsores, MTU Aero Engines, Rolls-Royce and Snecma [Safran]) to manage the TP400 engine programme.

Designed to power the Airbus Military A400M military transport, the TP400 is the most powerful turboshaft engine in the West. It features a three-shaft configuration and will deliver a maximum power output of 11,000 shaft horsepower.