12/13/2011: This posting provides an update on several developments regarding European built aircraft. The slideshow provides some glimpses of ongoing developments at Eurocopter and Airbus Military in the global marketplace. [slidepress gallery='an-update-on-european-aircraft-december-2011'] Credit: Eurocopter and Airbus Military The first photo shows the Tiger helicopter, a key element of the French…
9/27/2011: The Airbus Military A400M passed a series of key tests in the last week as the aircraft continues to progress towards civil and military type certification.On 17th September the aircraft (Grizzly 1) successfully performed the high-energy rejected take-off test, which confirms the capability of the braking system to stop…
06/16/2011: Cédric Gautier, head of the A400M program, provided an update on the program at the Airbus Trade Media event in mid-May 2011. [slidepress gallery='an-update-on-the-a400m-program'] Photo Credit: Airbus Military Gautier started by providing an overview on the aircraft itself. He argued that this is “a new modern aircraft with modern…
06/14/2011: The A400M can both be refueled in the air and function, itself as an air tanker. This will allow it to be a key part of any task force. As Pablo Quesada Ramos, Head of Market Development, MRTT and other Airbus platforms derivatives, noted in an interview:The A400M can…
06/11/2011 - At last year’s Airbus Military Trade media event, Richard Thompson, head of Airbus Military Services, provided an overview to the evolving services approach: In terms of concepts that we are developing, we’re moving from what has been for the last year’s traditional product support, all the usual things…
06/03/2011: This video shows one of the core advantages of the aerodynamic design of the new aircraft. Paratroopers can jump from a separate side door or exit by the ramp. As Peter Scoffham noted in an earlier interview In terms of a special forces insertion with a concurrent drop of…
06/02/2011: In a brief during the Airbus Military Trade media event, the A400M head test pilot, Ed Strongman, provided an update on the status of the flight test program. Over the past 18 months there have seen significant flight-testing within the program. As of May 10, 2011, 55 pilots have flown…
Designing New Platforms for Enhanced Maintainability: The A400M Case An Interview with Richard Thompson At the Farnborough Air Show last July (2010), Second Line of Defense sat down with Richard Thompson, Senior Vice President for Customer Services from Military Airbus to discuss how the design and development process enables greater…
