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Airbus A400M airlifters.
The European Union (EU) plans to establish what it calls a Military Mobility Transport Group in a move that could be a boon to Airbus by paving the way for additional A400M orders.
“Our peacetime rulebook is not fit for military mobility. Neither is our peacetime infrastructure,” European Defense and Space Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said Feb. 17. “It could take weeks or even months to move troops from one end of Europe to the other. That will not deter Putin, that will invite Putin,” he warned in a speech in Vilnius, Lithuania.
The proposed Military Mobility Transport Group is aimed at coordinating member states' actions in this field, setting investment priorities and expanding available assets.
Among the tasks, Kubilius said, is “building of logistics parks and strategic enablers such as airlift and air-to-air refueling—to make sure military movement is fast and efficient.”
Airbus has been looking for ways to boost demand for the A400M airlifter both among existing customers and new buyers. Among the ideas the company has floated in the past is becoming the owner of a fleet of aircraft and leasing their use to air forces that cannot afford to buy the aircraft outright. The idea of a joint purchase by some EU member states, not unlike the combined acquisition of Boeing C-17s by some NATO members, also has been suggested.
The European aircraft-maker has been dealing with a dwindling A400M backlog and reduced production to a minimum sustainment rate of eight aircraft per year. Company officials are optimistic, though, that they can sustain the program amid demand signals from European countries looking for larger fleets and sales campaigns elsewhere.
The EU’s push to build up a combat force is not enough, Kubilius said. “To match a 100,000 army build up, we would need to move similar numbers of soldiers and equipment—and fast. From the West where men and material are, to the East where they are needed. That is what solidarity and collective defense is about,” the former Lithuanian prime minister said.
The EU last year began to try to address mobility-related hurdles to operating across the region, including attempting to eliminate paperwork that slows operations.
Addressing mobility issues will be part of the EU’s next budget plan that starts in 2028, Kubilius said. “The question is not whether we can afford to invest in military mobility. The question is whether we can afford not to.”
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