Royal Air Force A400M Delivered

The Royal Air Force received its twenty-second Atlas C1 at RAF Brize Norton, completing the development and production phase of the United Kingdom's A400M programme. The aircraft joined the air-mobility fleet at a station that concentrates the service's strategic and tactical transport force. The A400M gives the Royal Air Force an airlifter able to carry outsized loads into austere strips, a capability that sits between the tactical C-130J and the strategic C-17 Globemaster III. Its arrival in full numbers underpinned the decision to withdraw the Hercules weeks later, leaving Atlas and Globemaster to divide the transport task.