aviation
A military transporter comes together: final assembly of the A400M
Spain - Seville
06.2018 | mins reading time
A400M 100-day project
It’s 11 a.m. and under the Andalusian sun a convoy of trucks carrying MTU-assembled TP400-D6 engines for the A400M military transporter is rolling toward Seville. Their journey will take them to Airbus Defense and Space, where the military transporter undergoes final assembly. It takes around 100 days to complete the assembly of an A400M aircraft, with eight days earmarked for mounting the four engines and the propellers.
MTU is responsible for the final assembly and production acceptance testing of all TP400-D6 production engines.
European partnership for the engines
The TP400-D6, the most powerful turboprop engine in the Western world, is developed by MTU in collaboration with its partners ITP, Rolls-Royce and Safran Aircraft Engines. A special feature of MTU’s workshare is that the company is responsible for the final assembly and acceptance testing of all TP400-D6 production engines—on the world’s only test cell qualified to test this engine, which is installed at MTU Maintenance Berlin-Brandenburg in Ludwigsfelde.
Engine maintenance assured
After the A400M has left the final assembly line in Seville, in-house inspections and test flights are the order of the day before the aircraft is ready for acceptance by the customer. The end of September 2017 marked delivery of the 50th A400M—to the German armed forces. Over the next five years, MTU Aero Engines will support all engines powering Germany’s A400M military transport aircraft. The corresponding maintenance framework agreement was concluded between the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) and MTU in October 2017.
