Spain Takes Delivery of Second Airbus A400M Military Transport Aircraft

The Spanish Air Force has taken the delivery of second of 27 A400Ms turboprop military transport aircraft from Airbus.

The Directorate General of armaments and Material (DGAM) delivered the aircraft to the Spanish Air Force at the Airbus factory in Seville, the defense ministry reported Friday.

The first A400M was delivered to Spain in November 2016. The first 14 aircraft are expected to be delivered by 2022 and the rest 13 will be delivered from 2025, Airbus had said in a statement in 2016.

The A400M was developed for Spain, Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Turkey and has been beset by delays and cost overruns which have taken it well beyond the original budget of 20 billion euros ($23 billion).

An Airbus A400 aircraft crashed near Seville during a test flight in May 2015, killing four of six crew members, after three out of four engines froze minutes after take-off.

The A400M faced flight restrictions immediately following the crash but France’s air force has since praised its performance in operations against Islamist militants in Africa’s Sahel region, and it has also been used by France, Germany and Britain in hurricane relief efforts in the Caribbean, Reuters has reported in November this year.