The second A400M new generation airlifter for the French Air Force, delivered on the 13th of November last year, was officially named “Ville de Toulouse” in a ceremony at the Airbus Delivery Centre in Toulouse.

The naming ceremony was presided over by the French Minister in Charge of Veterans Affairs, Kader Arif and took place in the presence of the Mayor of Toulouse, Pierre Cohen; the CEO of Airbus, Fabrice Bregier; and the Head of Military Aircraft, Airbus Defence and Space, Domingo Urena-Raso.

The A400M is the most versatile airlifter currently available responding to the most varied needs of world Air Forces and other organizations in the 21st century.

The A400M can perform three very different types of duties: it is able to perform both tactical missions directly to the point of need and long range strategic logistic ones. It can also serve as an air-to-air refueling “tanker”.
 
Powered by four unique counter-rotating Europrop International (EPI) TP400 turboprop powerplants, the A400M offers a wide flight envelope in terms of both speed and altitude. It is the ideal airlifter to fulfill the most varied requirements of any nation around the globe in terms of military, humanitarian and any other “civic” mission for the benefit of society.

The A400M was launched in 2003 to respond to the combined needs of seven European Nations regrouped within OCCAR (Belgium, France, Germany, Luxemburg, Spain, Turkey and the UK), with Malaysia joining in 2005. This is one of the major reasons for its extreme versatility. Its maiden flight took place on 11th December 2009.