NEW AIRLIFTER MAKES TATTOO DEBUT

The future shape of military transport made its UK debut at the Royal International Air Tattoo 2010.

The Airbus A400M transport arrived at RAF Fairford on Friday 16th July ready to participate in the spectacular nine-hour flying display.

The aircraft at Fairford is the second prototype which flew for the first time in April. At the controls was British pilot Ed Strongman who previously flew Royal Air Force C-130 Hercules from nearby RAF Lyneham.

The A400M is built by Airbus in Seville, Spain, and 184 examples are on order by eight nations including France, Germany and the UK. The aircraft, which is designed to fly troops and equipment, was due to go into service this year, but is now unlikely to be operational before 2012.

The RAF want to buy up to 25 A400Ms to replace the older C-130 Hercules currently in service. The A400M is powered by four Europrop TP400-D6 engines, one of the most powerful turboprop engines ever built creating 11,000 horsepower allowing to perform very short take-offs and achieve impressive rates of climb.