Spain To Sell Half Its A400M Fleet After Budget Cuts

The Spanish government has decided to sell 13 of 27 A400M aircraft it is scheduled to receive from Airbus Military following significant defence cutbacks in some major procurement programs.

“Contractually, Spain has to take all of the 27 A400Ms it has ordered,” a spokesman for Airbus Military was quoted as saying on July 29, “but if it wants to sell some of them, we have nothing to say.”

He also said that the first 14 aircraft are due to be delivered by 2020, and that a decision to sell off the aircraft on will not be taken until after then, “so it’s still some time off.” He added that Spain’s final 13 A400Ms would be delivered in an austere configuration, without many mission systems, to reduce cost.

At present, Airbus’ total orders stand at 174 aircraft France received its first A400M jet this month and is scheduled to receive the remaining 49 by 2025.

Germany is due to receive its first of 53 aircraft next year. The UK (22), Belgium (7), Turkey (10), Luxembourg (1), Malaysia (4) and Spain (27) are among countries that have ordered the transport aircraft.

France has ordered a cut in the order for Rafale fighters but there is no word as yet on the axe falling on any other type of aircraft procurement.

Formerly known as the future large aircraft, the A400M is a military transporter designed to meet the requirements of the air forces of Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, Turkey and the UK. The aircraft was developed in association with BAE Systems, EADS (Germany, France and Spain), Flabel (Belgium) and Tusas Aerospace Industries (Turkey). Final assembly took place in Seville, Spain.

Since development began in 2003, the project was severely delayed and over budget. In 2009, Airbus suggested scrapping the program unless €5.3bn could be raised to fund the project. The next year, Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey agreed to lend Airbus €1.5bn and proceed with the programme, however Germany and the UK reduced the number of aircraft ordered to 53 and 22 respectively, taking the total down to 170.

Since winning its European certification earlier in May, Airbus plans to seriously market the aircraft world-wide.

“Until now, we’ve been really focused on certification and on making sure that production deliveries go through as planned, with no last-minute hitches,” says Damien Allard, Airbus Military’s market development manager.

“Now this is done, we can move on to the next job, which is international sales,” he told a defence media website.

In 2005, Chile signed an MoU for three aircraft but has yet to place an order. The country has now entered into talks with Embraer to purchase the KC-390.

The following year, Airbus responded to a tender issued by the Canadian government for 17 tactical airlifters to replace its aging Lockheed C-130E aircraft. However, the contracts were later awarded to Boeing and Lockheed Martin for four C-17 Globemaster IIIs and 17 C-130J Super Hercules respectively.