The first transport plane A400M for the Kazakhstan Air Force has made its first flight, an important milestone prior to its delivery in the second half of 2024.
He A400Mproduction number MSN139took off from the facilities of Airbus Defense and Space in Saint Paul (Seville) at 2:42 p.m. on Monday. After five hours of flight over the provinces of Huelva and Seville, in which the aircraft’s engines and systems were tested, the first A400M from Kazakhstan landed at 7:23 p.m.
Before the first flight and as part of the certification process for the first of the two A400M For Kazakhstan, the first engine firing and first filming took place in April 2024.
More than 120 have left the Airbus assembly line in São Paulo to date. A400Mwho accumulate 190,000 flight hours, in military transport and humanitarian missions.
Up to 116 soldiers or 37 tons
The program A400M was launched in 2003 by seven members of the NATO (United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Türkiye, Belgium and Luxembourg). Kazakhstan will be the second export customer, after Malaysia. The Central Asian country commissioned two A400M in September 2021.
This aircraft is designed to carry out tactical, strategic and logistical missions. It is capable of transporting 37 tons of cargo in its hold in a volume of 340 cubic meters. These features allow it to accommodate, for example, a helicopter NH90 or a CH-47 Chinook, or two heavy vehicles. It is also prepared to carry a heavy logistics truck, a rescue boat or even large mobile cranes and excavators for use in relief operations. If used for troop deployment, then it can carry up to 116 soldiers or paratroopers.
The A400M, with a wingspan of just over 42 meters and a length of 45 metres, can fly distances of 8,700 kilometers at a cruising altitude of 11,300 meters and a speed of 0.72 Mach. It has also achieved certification of low-level automatic flight capability and the simultaneous launch of parachutists, “important milestones to achieve the full development of the aircraft,” as the manufacturer points out.
Airbus is also working to provide the aircraft with new capabilities. The company is designing a firefighting kit that converts the A400M in a fire extinguisher.
