First A400M for the French Air Force takes shape in Seville
The first Airbus Military A400M for one of its customers, the French Air Force, is taking shape in Seville, where its final assembly line (FAL) is located. This is a new milestone in the assembly and serial production process of the A400M, one the most outstanding aeronautical programmes at an International sphere. Many Andalusian companies from the cluster Hélice are involved in this project
The final assembly process for this Aircraft, known as MSN7, started last November. According to Airbus Military, the nose and fuselage are already integrated and the aircraft was recently moved, on its landing gear, to the workstation in which the structural assembly is carried out.
Integration works for the wing started last week and both the horizontal and the vertical tailplanes, which have already been mated, have just been moved to the final station, known as Station 40, with the rest of the Aircraft. The A400M will then be powered up for the first time before the aircraft is moved to the Ground System Tests area.
Airbus Military has pointed out, that this Aircraft, the first one in the series production, will be delivered to France around the turn of the year 2012-2013. Among the Hélice enterprises involved in its assembly and manufacture there are Alestis, Elimco, Aertec, MDU, Navair, Inespasa, Aeroestructuras Sevilla, Airgrup, AyG Sevilla, Galvatec, TADA and Sevilla Control.
The A400M is an all-new military airlifter designed to meet the needs of the world’s Armed Forces needed today for both military and humanitarian disaster relief missions. Thanks to its most advanced technologies, it is able to fly higher, faster and further, while retaining high manoeuvrability, low speed, and short, soft and rough airfield capabilities. Conceived to be highly reliable, dependable, and with a great survivability the A400M combines both tactical and strategic/logistic missions; it has been also designed to carry outsize equipment.
