Airbus has signed two strategic contracts with the
Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR), an international organisation based in Bonn, Germany, which manages the A400M programme on behalf of the launch customer nations Germany, France, the UK, Spain, Turkey, Belgium and Luxembourg. These new contracts are the so-called A400M Global Support Services (GSS3) and Block Upgrade 0 to enhance the aircraft’s scope of capabilities.
Jean-Brice Dumont, head of airpower at Airbus Defence and Space, said: “The A400M is a clear enabler of the sovereignty of our nations and the strategic autonomy of Europe. Global deployments like the Kabul airlift mission or the more recent Pacific Skies exercise highlight the need for interoperability and commonality among our customer nations. This new framework agreement is the answer to that increasing requirement. With 130 A400M in operation and more than 200,000 flight hours achieved by the fleet, the new agreement allows our customers to benefit from significant savings while keeping the same high standard of services and performance.”
Joachim Sucker, OCCAR-EA director, added: “To enable sustained operation of a high-end military system like the A400M, a robust support environment is paramount. The GSS3 contract signed by OCCAR with Airbus illustrates A400M user nations’ ambition to sustainably operate the A400M in the most demanding environments, benefitting from the range, the payload and the versatility of the A400M to fulfil an incredibly large scope of missions.”
The Global Support Services contract, which covers all A400M-user nations, replaces the previous agreement signed in 2019 and provides a host of tailored services by Airbus that meet the needs of its customers. These services range from ground tools, spares delivery and technical support, giving flexibility to industry and operators to explore new areas of collaboration, concepts and services.
Performance indicatorsThe A400M GSS3 contract brings the benefits of a fully integrated suite of common services using shared resources and assets in combination with specific nation’s requests. Performance-based, it creates a new partnership framework based on pooling and sharing, with clear performance indicators to boost and incentivise fleet availability and reduce the cost of ownership.
The agreement between Airbus and OCCAR includes a second contract, the so-called Block Upgrade 0. It represents the first upgrade of the A400M’s operational capabilities beyond the scope of the original launch contract. It not only improves key elements of the A400M systems, such as flight management systems, it will ensure the A400M fleet is fully compliant with the latest NATO requirements. Tactical Information enhancement, Satellite-based landing system or narrow band SATCOM and Wifi will be among the new enhanced capabilities.
This Block Upgrade 0 contract is described as an end-to-end contract covering the development, certification, embodiment and in-service support of these enhancements. The initial phase has already started and will be completed by the end of 2026, while the next phases, including notably the fleet’s embodiment and in-service training, will continue until the end of the decade.
Having reached and demonstrated maturity in combat and humanitarian operations for more than 10 years, these enhancements on the A400M fleet will expand its capabilities in tactical and strategic operations, further increasing its performance and reducing the crew workload.