Ten years ago the first Atlas A400M aircraft entered service with the RAF. Since then, another 21 A400M aircraft have joined the fleet and, over the last decade, have proven their value to the RAF and the UK time and again. DE&S has been with the A400M programme from the very start and continues to support its delivery and maintenance.

For example, when civil war broke out in Sudan the UK enacted Operation Polar Bear, evacuating 1,685 personnel from the country. The RAF’s Atlas A400M aircraft flew 20 sorties in just 12 days from the Wadi Seidna airfield just north of Khartoum. All of this activity was supported by DE&S.

Its many capabilities have allowed Atlas to support UK operations including across the Middle East, Falkland Islands and the Caribbean. A 20-hour flight to Guam with air-to-air refuelling from a Voyager aircraft – an aircraft also supported by DE&S – demonstrated the potential of the A400M.

During the pandemic, our teams supported when the Atlas aircraft contributed to the military response by transporting patients, equipment and vaccines.

They also played a pivotal part in the evacuation of personnel from Afghanistan. Flying 31 sorties into and out of Kabul, over 3,500 British citizens and many Afghans were flown from an increasingly dangerous environment.

This year Atlas A400M was called on to deliver aid to Gaza, with DE&S sourcing the parachutes used to drop the supplies from the aircraft.

A product of real collaboration

The A400M programme combines the expertise of the UK with that of Belgium, France, Germany, Spain and Turkey, coordinated through the Organisation for Joint Armament Co-operation (OCCAR), and working with industry partner Airbus. DE&S works with the international teams from OCCAR to ensure the A400M has the proper engine support contracts and other support processes in place to carry out its valuable work wherever it is in the world.

This international partnership enables the nations to have an aircraft with a level of interoperability, power, capacity and ability that could not have been achieved individually.