With final assembly of the aircraft due to start very shortly, production of components and sub-assemblies at the manufacturing sites of the programme partners around the world is in full swing. The engine test programme is on-going and has made significant progress, including high altitude tests and the achievement of full power. The C-130 aircraft destined as the flying test bed for the TP400 engine is having its wing strengthened and the pylon installed, and the static test facility in Spain is being readied to receive a complete airframe.

On February 20th the first complete nose fuselage section of the A400M was delivered from Saint-Nazaire in France to the Getafe test facility in Madrid. This major sub-assembly was transported by a Beluga Super Transport which first flew to Seville with its cargo to undertake manoeuvring and unloading trials at the Final Assembly Line (FAL).

Equipped with all hydraulic, pneumatic and electrical systems and fitted with strain gauges, the nose fuselage section is the first element of a complete airframe destined for use in the static test programme. The main fuselage barrel, wings and empennage will shortly arrive for integration at Getafe into a complete aircraft designated “A/C 5000”. The static test programme, lasting over a year, is extremely rigorous and is designed to discover the mechanical properties and structural limits of the aircraft prior to certification. In order to achieve this A/C 5000 will, eventually, be tested to destruction.