AIRCRAFT PROGRAM

Medium transport, military aircraft with capability to take off and land from short and rough air strips. With a cargo payload of 37 tonnes, the A400M is used for tactical airlift, strategic airlift, medical evacuation and air-to-air refuelling.

A high wing aircraft with t-tail configuration, large fuselage cross section for maximum cargo hold and removable refuelling probe above cockpit. 4 eight-blade composite propellers, two per wing turning in opposite directions, 4 turboprop engines and 6 wheel landing gear.

Airframe is constructed from aluminium alloy as are the rudder structural frame. Titanium alloy is used around windscreen, wing/fuselage joints, and landing gear components as well as tail plane central joint. Over a third of structure is made from composite materials including tail plane outer boxes, wing box, trailing edge shroud and most of the rudder. Wing skins, stringers, spars and moving surfaces are made from carbon fibre composites; landing gear doors and fairings from glass fibre or carbon fibre.

2 pilots and additional crew member in a full glass cockpit face two mission computers, two wide angled head-up displays and 8 colour head-down displays with side stick controllers each, centrally positioned throttle control and fly-by-wire control systems with side stick controllers.

Type variants

Variant	Launch/First flight	Production end
Airbus A400M Atlas	1995 / 2009		Turboprop mulitrole aircraft.

Recent news

• 22/04/2026:  Press Release:  Proud to support Airbus in the A400M program
• 13/04/2026:  Press Release:  Safran modernizes and strengthens forging capacity at its historic Gennevilliers site
• 08/04/2026:  Press Release:  MTU Aero Engines expands its portfolio to include UAV propulsion systems
• 17/12/2025:  NEWS:  Airbus deploys Stratasys printed parts for A320, A350 and A400M
• 19/09/2025:  Press Release:  Radia announces WindRunner for Defense: redefining air mobility with a new class of outsized-volume air cargo

View full news archive for the Airbus A400M.

See recent updates (latest 08/06/2026)