TSAMTO, September 6. On September 2, the Spanish Air Force announced on its Twitter page that the transfer of the 11th A-400M military transport aviation aircraft to the 31st Transport Wing took place at the Airbus Defense and Space enterprise in Seville.
After the ceremony, the plane flew to the air base in Zaragoza.
As reported by TSAMTO, in May 2003, Spain decided to purchase 27 A-400M military transport aircraft worth about 6 billion rubles. euro. However, due to the difficult economic situation in mid-2013, the Spanish Ministry of Defense revised its plans, deciding to abandon the adoption of 13 aircraft. These A-400M are planned to be purchased starting from 2025, and then offered for sale on the foreign market. According to the agreement between the Spanish Ministry of Defense and Airbus Defense and Space, the first batch of 14 aircraft will be delivered to the Spanish Air Force in the period from 2016 to 2023.
The final assembly of the first A-400M (MSN44) for the Spanish Air Force began at the plant in San Pablo (Seville) in October 2015. The aircraft was delivered to the Spanish Air Force in November 2016 and entered service on December 1, 2016.
The A-400M of the Spanish Air Force will be based in Zaragoza and will replenish the fleet of VTA aircraft, which also includes the medium C-295, CN-235 and light C-212 delivered by Airbus Defense and Space. The new A-400M will replace the outdated C/KC-130H "Hercules" aircraft and will allow you to transport twice as much cargo over the same distance or similar cargo over twice as much distance.
The Atlas A-400M is equipped with four turboprop engines, eight-blade propellers, can reach speeds of up to 0.76 M (900 km / h) and provides transportation of up to 35 tons of cargo both inside the theater and between them, landing troops and equipment, including from high altitudes, aerial refueling of aircraft and helicopters, including other A-400M, medical evacuation.
