A400M Rollout

[Mictheslik]

Airbus's Hercules replacement has been rolled out in Seville.....Particularly of interest to my area as the wings are designed and built just down the road from me

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/7473838.stm

.mic

[AMDDDA]

Aye, shame that the C-130's are the ones to be replaced, I loved going up to Laughlin and seeing them.



Carbon fiber...


Nice to see that it's finally coming though.

[expat]

Aye, shame that the C-130's are the ones to be replaced.

Yes it is, after all the upgrades and fuselage extensions they have had. I bet that amounts to at least a couple of A400M's in the kitty.

Matt

[todayshorse]

All very interesting, but i got the impression from the article that carbon fibre had just been invented and its some sort of unknown quantity????? I know its tricky to lay and they way its layed effects its properties, and id be interested to see how they deal with any flexing, or how they make it flex in a wing application, if indeed it does!

They've been using it in F1 for years, hell, i even bought some carbon fibre sheet of ebay and made an air vent for my road car out of it!!

[a1]

Airbus really got the competition in the past few years.


A shame it will replace the reliable C-130.

[The Ruptured Duck]

why replace C-130's?  Governments need to learn that its gonna be hard to replace all these cold war era aircraft.  Rugged and reliable.

[Slotback]

A400M replacing C-130? I thought it's targetted to be between the C-17 / C-130?

[Mictheslik]

A400M replacing C-130? I thought it's targetted to be between the C-17 / C-130?

I don't know what the target is in the states, but I know the RAF have ordered quite a few to replace their C130Ks

They have specs somewhere between the C130 and the C17, but the C17 is still a more versatile platform which can carry more.....the A400M is however, more economical and has a greater payload then the Hercules

.mic

[Craig.]

That gust of wind you felt was the collective sigh of everybody who had to once again hear about the great white elephant.

Once this thing finally comes into service I can almost guarentee it'll be held up with various problems.

[Mictheslik]

Once this thing finally comes into service I can almost guarentee it'll be held up with various problems.

Isn't that what happens to most aircraft nowadays.....TBH the manufacturers need to be real about setting targets. It's got to the point at which a delay is inevitable, whether it be Boeing or Airbus.....

.mic

[Ivan]

so the french finally finished their Antonov ripoff... about time

Now they probably beg for the engines to keep working... not much experience in that power range in the west

[C]

[quote]why replace C-130's?

[Ivan]

And why did the French/British/German/Spanish/Italians develop the "Antonov rip-off"? Why? Because no government would touch the Antonov with a barge pole, let alone dare placing a multi billion pound order. However good the aircraft itself is, the ex Soviet manufacturers aren't as "reliable" in the business world I suspect

Because they wanted the An-70 (with some mods) first and then decided otherwise. the russians were very eager to mess up the program after ukraine decided on a pro-european course

(hence why the RAF uses AN-124s almost daily, but lets someone else operate them and hold the associated risks)

More likely because there arent any training courses offered to foreigners. antonovs own fleet is flown by people trained by the factory, and the other major operators are either russian (polet, volga-dnepr) or military (libya, russian airforce). Furthermore... there's a huge shortage of An-124s at the moment

[C]

(hence why the RAF uses AN-124s almost daily, but lets someone else operate them and hold the associated risks)

More likely because there arent any training courses offered to foreigners. antonovs own fleet is flown by people trained by the factory, and the other major operators are either russian (polet, volga-dnepr) or military (libya, russian airforce). Furthermore... there's a huge shortage of An-124s at the moment

It's cheaper to lease them as a package from Antonov or Heavylift (Volga-Dnepr) as and when they are needed than own them. The RAF would have very little interest in owning such an "unversatile" cargo aircraft (which is why our largest transport is the smaller, but more tactically and in-theatre capable C-17, rather than something like a C-5) - hence why we see a lot of freight charters at our airbases - for any pure "trucking freight" from hub to hub, a charter (be it an AN124 or a A300) is just a lot cheaper.