A400M ontwikkelingen

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eadspics/8535929471/

Mooie foto, nog mooier met Nederlandse roundels. 

[Elzenga]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eadspics/8535929471/

[dudge]

Significant components of the A400M are designed and manufactured in South Africa by Aerosud and Denel Aerostructures, both of which are industrial partners in the programme.

Opvallend, aangezien Zuid-Afrika zich had teruggetrokken van aanschaf (voorlopig).

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Europe's A400M aircraft programme now reaching major milestones

By: Keith Campbell /  1st February 2013

Airbus Military's troubled A400M air- lifter programme is now progressing well, with the first production aircraft set to be delivered to the launch customer within a few months, Airbus group president and CEO Fabrice Brégier reported at the recent Airbus annual press conference. "We were in deep crisis, [but], since 2009, we have worked very hard." He added: "The A400M programme was progressing very well until midsummer [2012]. Then we had maturity problems with the engine."
The aircraft is powered by four Europrop International (EPI) TP400-D6 turboprop engines, the most powerful turboprops ever developed outside Russia. EPI is owned by ITP, MTU Aero Engines, Rolls-Royce and Snecma (part of the Safran group), with MTU, Rolls-Royce and Snecma being the largest shareholders, with 28% each (but Rolls-Royce also owns almost 47% of ITP). Brégier expressed his pleasure with the strength of the response of, in particular, Rolls-Royce and Safran to these problems.
As a result, Airbus Military was able to conclude the 300-hour function and reliability testing of the aircraft, which is a prerequisite for both military and civil aviation certification. "[Airbus Military] completed the reliability flight programme in 26 days," he revealed. "The first big milestone has been achieved. The second will be entry into service."
The A400M is expected to achieve military and civil certification during this quarter, and the first production aircraft – which was rolled out on January 15 – should be delivered to the French Air Force during the second quarter. By the end of this year, four production aircraft should have been delivered to the French Air Force and the Turkish Air Force (two each). Four A400Ms are currently in the final assembly stage and another 13 are in production.
The A400M has been designed to function as both a strategic and a tactical airlifter. In the strategic role, it is able to fly at Mach 0.72 (that is, at 72% of the speed of sound, which varies with altitude) at about 12 000 m (37 000 ft) and with a range of 6 390 km with a 20 t payload, or 4 535 km with a 30 t payload. Significant components of the A400M are designed and manufactured in South Africa by Aerosud and Denel Aerostructures, both of which are industrial partners in the programme.

The components that Aerosud is responsible for are mostly classified as secondary structures. These are the nose fuselage linings, the cargo hold linings, and cockpit linings, the cockpit rigid bulkhead and the nose fuselage galleys. But the company is also responsible for the wing tips, which are significant because they will contain elements of the aircraft's defence aids subsystem.
Denel Aerostructures produces large primary structures, without which the aircraft cannot fly. These are the top shells for the centre fuselage section and the wing/fuselage fairings. The top shells can be thought of as being equivalent to roof panels. The company is producing two top shells for each aircraft – one in front of and one behind the wing box, which joins the wing to the fuselage. The wing/fuselage fairings are manufactured mainly from composite materials but include aluminium parts. Each such fairing is 15 m long, 7 m wide and nearly 3 m high.

Airbus Military is a "very important part of our business", highlighted Brégier. It delivered 29 aircraft last year, comprising 20 light and medium transports (CN235s and C295s), five A330 multirole tanker transports (MRTTs) and four refitted and refurbished Lockheed P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft. Its order backlog, described by Brégier as "huge", stands at 174 A400Ms, 17 A330 MRTTs, 20 C295s, five CN235s and four P-3s.

http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/europes-a400m-aircraft-programme-now-reaching-major-milestones-2013-02-01

[andré herc]

The Wall Street Journal
By DANIEL MICHAELS

The A440M Atlas, Airbus's first foray into military aircraft, has been delayed for years due to problems with its engines. Now the aircraft is almost ready to enter service as Airbus aims to compete with Boeing and Lockheed-Martin for military contracts. WSJ's Daniel Michaels reports.
.
SEVILLE, Spain—Airbus believes it can get a lift from a plane that has been dragging it down.

The European aerospace company has spent five years trying to fix engineering problems with its A400M Atlas military transport aircraft, which is roughly four years behind schedule, billions of euros over budget and has become a symbol of the company's troubles in the defense industry.

But Airbus executives say the A400M is on the verge of switching to a marketing asset from a financial liability. They expect European civil-aviation regulators in coming weeks to certify the four-engine turboprop plane for service. Airbus plans to start delivering the first four A400Ms to the French air force by summer.

Voor het volledige artikel zie link
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324020804578151131743313400.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

[Harald]

1st A400M To Be Delivered in 2nd Quarter of '13

Airbus Military is on track to deliver the first A400M airlifter in the second quarter of 2013, following completion of 300 hours of flying function and reliability tests, a key part in the flight test program, the company said Dec. 10.

Technical problems in the engine gearbox forced Airbus to push the first delivery from the first to the second quarter.

"Airbus Military has successfully .....

http://www.defensenews.com/article/20121210/DEFREG01/312100005/1st-A400M-Delivered-2nd-Quarter-8217-13?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Airbus Military has today reconfirmed that it will deliver the first four new generation A400M airlifters to customers in 2013 as planned

Airbus Military has today reconfirmed that it will deliver the first four new generation A400M airlifters to customers in 2013 as planned, following the  development of solutions to  the recent engine issue, which prevented the A400M from participating in the Farnborough Air Show flying display.

As communicated, we recently had an engine issue on MSN6, the first production representative  development aircraft. After receiving the Restricted Type Certificate  (RTC) from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)  last April, representing a big milestone and achievement in the programme, MSN6  started performing the 300  hour Function and Reliability (F&R) testing required for the award of the full Type Certificate (TC). Tests had to be suspended after 160 hours of F&R flying  because of the repeated detection of metallic chips in the oil system of one of the engines.

Airbus Military has supported the engine manufacturer Europrop International (EPI) in its investigations of the root cause and fixes. EPI's investigations have demonstrated that the failure does not impact the engines' full capabilities and that the chip detection was provoked by a crack of a cover plate, a mechanical piece isolating elements within the Propeller Gear Box (PGB). As a responsibility of EPI, they have already made a new design available, which is currently in the validation process.

Consequently, the MSN6 engines as well as all series production engines have been sent back to EPI for replacement of this cover plate.he lead-time of the cover plate replacement in order to resume the F&R flying as soon as possible. F&R activity will be able to restart when MSN6 is fitted  with  the modified engines and  upon agreement with EASA of a new F&R plan.

As a consequence, the civil Type Certification and military Initial Operating Capability (IOC) will now move into the first quarter of next year, followed by first delivery to the French Air Force (MSN7) in the second quarter of 2013. Despite this we maintain the overall delivery plan of four aircraft in 2013. There is a slight impact on the delivery of the second French aircraft (MSN8) while MSN9 (the first Turkish aircraft) and MSN10 (the third for France) will remain on schedule with delivery before the end of  2013. Other deliveries in 2014 and beyond continue as planned.

EPI President Simon Henley said: "We are working very hard to reduce the lead-time on these replacements to allow Airbus Military to resume the flight test as soon as possible and continue the series production as planned".

Flight testing outside the F&R programme is progressing well, focusing primarily on military capabilities and systems, and the Grizzly development aircraft fleet has now completed more than 3,700 hours in nearly 1,250 flights.

Industrially, the first three customer aircraft are now in the final assembly process in Seville and a further ten aircraft are in various stages of production with long-lead items launched up to MSN23 and advancing according to plan.

About the A400M
The A400M is an all-new military airlifter designed to meet the needs of the world's Armed Forces in the 21st Century. Thanks to its most advanced technologies, it is able to fly higher, faster and further, while retaining high maneuverability, low speed, and short, soft and rough airfield capabilities. It combines both tactical and strategic/logistic missions. With its cargo hold specifically designed to carry the outsize equipment needed today for both military and humanitarian disaster relief missions, it can bring this material quickly and directly to where it is most needed. Conceived to be highly reliable, dependable, and with a great survivability, the multipurpose A400M can do more with less, implying smaller fleets and less investment from the operator. The A400M is the most cost efficient and versatile airlifter ever conceived and absolutely unique in its capabilities.

http://www.airbusmilitary.com/LatestNews/tabid/176/ArticleID/217/ArtMID/681/Airbus-Military-reconfirms-A400M-production-output-for-2013-.aspx

[andré herc]

By Robert Wall and Andrea Rothman on August 31, 2012

Airbus Military is set to push back development milestones on the A400M military transport after falling behind with certification because of defects on the turbo-propeller engines, people familiar with the plan said.

zie link

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-08-31/airbus-said-to-revise-a400m-schedule-following-engine-defects

[Elzenga]

....
De C-17 heeft hetzelfde Weight Watcher probleem,  ook al ca. 12 ton overgewicht.

Speciaal erbij vermeld voor Elzenga :crazy:

[Poleme]

De door mij zelf gemaakte foto's van de A-4OOM ,7 juli ,Fairford 2012
Speciaal  gemaakt voor voor Elzenga  
Er zijn op dit moment wel problemen met de motoren, zodoende kan hij maar beperkt vliegen.

En die problemen zijn misschien wel structureel van aard.   Westerse vliegtuig fabrikanten hebben geen ervaring met turbo-prop motoren met een zulk hoog aantal paardenkrachten.  Er zijn ontwerpers die zeggen dat men beter de A400M met turbofan motoren kan uitrusten i.p.v. de huidige turboprops a la Japanse XC-2.
Daarnaast heeft de A400M een 12.000 kg hoger leeggewicht.  Het is geen probleem om het Maximum Take Off Weight met 12 ton te verhogen.  Maar dat heeft wel tot gevolg, dat de A400M een kleiner vliegbereik krijgt + de kist heeft een langere start aanloop of landing uitloop.
Dus sommige startbanen met maximaal vracht gewicht zijn niet meer geschikt voor de A400M.
De C-17 heeft hetzelfde Weight Watcher probleem,  ook al ca. 12 ton overgewicht.

[Elzenga]

Airbus A400M tactical airlifter to get Thales TopOwl Helmet Mounted Sight and Display July 17, 2012
Posted by Richard Clements in Military Aviation.

During the Farnborough Airshow 2012, Thales announced that its TopOwl Helmet Mounted Sight and Display (HMSD) has been selected by the Operation for Joint Armaments Cooperation to be flight tested on the Airbus A400M "Atlas".

Scheduled between June 2012 and April 2013, the tests will have to validate the use of the HMSD by the military transport aircraft crew during night missions.


Image credit: Thales

TopOwl incorporates a night vision function: it provides the same levels of performance as the latest generation of night vision googles (NVG) with a significantly higher level of comfort for the wearer, enabling pilots to fly long missions in complete safety.

The TopOwl visor-projected intensified night vision image is a vast improvement over conventional night vision optics by providing far superior environmental perception along with excellent peripheral vision (something lacking in other systems).

TopOwl itself isn't new, having already been combat proven in Afghanistan and Libya during night missions by attack helicopters, but it's the first time the system is going to be used in a fixed wing aircraft.

Richard Clements for TheAviationist.com
http://theaviationist.com/2012/07/17/a400-hmsd/

[andré herc]

De door mij zelf gemaakte foto's van de A-4OOM ,7 juli ,Fairford 2012
Speciaal  gemaakt voor voor Elzenga  
Er zijn op dit moment wel problemen met de motoren, zodoende kan hij maar beperkt vliegen.

thanks ....en toch blijft het een mooi toestel..ondanks de kinderziekten

Ik heb er tien minuten naast gestaan terwijl de motoren stationair stonden te draaien,en tijdens de flypast van alle cargo vliegtuigen van de RAF,vloog  de A-400M als laatste, en met enige afstand, net of dat het vliegtuig heel veel moeite had om ze bij te houden.
Ik blijf de A-400M maar niks vinden ,en veel te duur.

[Elzenga]

De door mij zelf gemaakte foto's van de A-4OOM ,7 juli ,Fairford 2012
Speciaal  gemaakt voor voor Elzenga  
Er zijn op dit moment wel problemen met de motoren, zodoende kan hij maar beperkt vliegen.

thanks ....en toch blijft het een mooi toestel..ondanks de kinderziekten

[andré herc]

Reuters) - Airbus (EAD.PA) is pulling Europe's A400M airlifter out of flying displays at next week's Farnborough Airshow due to continued engine problems, forcing it to sit out popular annual stunts for the second year running, industry sources said

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/04/us-airbus-a400m-idUSBRE8630NP20120704

[andré herc]

De door mij zelf gemaakte foto's van de A-4OOM ,7 juli ,Fairford 2012
Speciaal  gemaakt voor voor Elzenga  
Er zijn op dit moment wel problemen met de motoren, zodoende kan hij maar beperkt vliegen.