Airbus A400M

Michael Schoellhorn talks with Aviation Week about the rapidly changing face of Europe’s security requirements.

Germany, France, the Netherlands and Czech Republic are discussing the future of strategic airlift and eyeing solutions for heavy and outsized cargo aircraft.

Five years after a reorganization of its maintenance, repair, and overhaul organization, France’s defense ministry is drawing lessons from the efforts.

The country’s latest military programming law was presented to the Council of Ministers on April 4.

The UK RAF plans to transfer most C-130J missions to the Airbus A400M by the time the Hercules leaves service in the summer.

Airbus says there are no immediate plans to certify aerial refueling between its A400M and A330 MRTT side underwing refueling pods.

European countries need to “reconverge” their space efforts, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said as he reported lower profits for Airbus' Defense and Space unit.

The service has had to compress development of C-130J missions onto the A400M.

The European Defense Agency (EDA) has funded Airbus, Spanish company GMV, the German aerospace center DLR and German firm AES Technology.

The approval, announced June 2, means that air forces now will be able to use the full capacity of the aircraft to drop up to 116 paratroopers from the paratroop doors.

Airbus is beginning talks with workforce representatives to address cost structure and boost the division’s long-term competitiveness.