Airbus A400M

With the UK Royal Air Force increasingly focused on dispersal and resilience, the inconvenient runway closure of Brize Norton may prove a useful rehearsal.

The UK’s June 2026 Defense Investment Plan (DIP) switched the country’s defense modernization into 6th gear, with £298 billion ($402 billion) in funding to be made available through 2029.

Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said he was upbeat about the outlook for the A400M airlifter.

Days after France said it was working to rapidly press the Airbus A400M airlifter into firefighting duty, the French government said it had commenced those operations over the weekend.

Lockheed Martin targets India, Latin America and U.S. demand as C-130 deliveries return to normal.

France Plans A400M Firefighting Missions Soon

The Airbus A400M Atlas is a European four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft developed by Airbus Defence and Space as a tactical airlifter with strategic capabilities.

NATO allies have committed to strengthening key support capabilities with plans to field Saab GlobalEye and Northrop Grumman MQ-4 Triton UAS.

The A400M is trying to shed its reputation as a sluggish development program as it pursues new mission capabilities.

When Airbus embarked on the A400M program, one of its selling points was that it could serve as a strategic transport and a tactical aircraft.

The French government has become the launch customer for an Airbus effort to start evolving the A400M airlifter beyond its baseline capabilities.

Malaysia’s military modernization has been guided by Capability Development Plan 55, the first phase of which includes seven core strategic programs, with five directly related to aircraft procurement.

An Airbus A400M airlifter equipped with an aerial firefighting system will bolster Spain’s wildfire attack capability this year.

Airbus expects the Eurodrone uncrewed aircraft program to survive even absent French participation.

For more information about Aviation Week Intelligence Network’s (AWIN) 2026 Military Fleet & MRO Forecast and other Aviation Week data products, please see: https://pgs.aviationweek.com/forecast

The Indian Air Force can proceed with plans to buy a host of defense equipment.

On location in Toulouse, Aviation Week's Jens Flottau and Robert Wall discuss the implications of Airbus' latest results.

Aging aircraft, potential new fighter buys and a long-discussed service merger leave the Royal Saudi Air Force at a strategic inflection point.

The 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 more A400M orders.

Airbus is using the World Defense Show 2026 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, this week to relaunch its A400M tactical airlifter sales campaign in the country.

The Republic of Singapore Air Force will replace its oldest Hercules with used ones for now, buying time before choosing a new transport aircraft.

Airbus is still hunting for deals to bolster the dwindling A400M's backlog, but program boss Gerd Weber said he is more relaxed about winning contracts.

A key modernization priority for the Indonesian Air Force is the expansion of a mixed fighter fleet, which is expected to more than triple over the next decade.

China appears to have flown a new tactical airlifter, more than a decade after the concept was first unveiled in 2014.

Strategic decisions loom for some of the biggest Western airlift programs.