Well it's almost here, sort of. The Bastille Day air show was spearheaded by an A400m (MSN7) escorted by a French air force Rafale and a German Eurofighter Typhoon over the Champs Elysée. MSN7 is still sporting it's Airbus Military registration but is due to enter in the French Air Force in the following days , with MSN8 entering service later in September.
The program is 4 years late and significantly over budget but it marks an important milestone in European Airlift capabilities. The aircraft is due to be adopted by the French, German, British and Spanish Air Forces. These aircraft are severely needed in the French and German air forces where the airlift capabilities are assured by the relatively small C-160s and C-130s. The British opted to procure 8 C-17s to help meet their operational demands. However smaller, the A-400M has certain capabilities that the bigger jet powered C-17 does not and therefore remained attractive to the RAF.
Events such as Operation Serval demonstrated the need to possess significant Airlift capabilities in order to troops and materiel quickly in areas where access to the sea may not exist geographically or prove to be geo-politically impractical. During Operation Serval, the French Air Force could only provide 25% of the total airlift demand that was required. A further 25% was provided by Allied nations. But a stunning 50% was provided by a private Ukrainian firm aboard its massive An 124s. This solution is both costly and limiting in terms of strategic flexibility.
Despite it's development hiccups, the A400M Atlas makes a lot of sense. In terms of capabilities, it sits in between the old but reliable C-130 Hercules and the much larger C-17 Globemaster 3s. It would also provide a common platform for Europe's major military forces to train and inter-operate on, reinforcing the feasibility of the projection of joint European Forces around the globe. As the Americans scale back and refocus their assets to the Pacific, the major European powers can no longer rely on the might of the US Air Force to provide the same amount of support to its allies as it used to.
The A400M imposes itself as breath of fresh air to individual countries and their foreign military ambitions but may also serve coalesce the feasibility of pan-European operations, as they become less reliant on US support (and thus approval). All that remains is to see whether the A400M actual conforms to its required performances.
