Kazakhstan receives second A400M military transport aircraft

Kazakhstan has taken delivery of its second Airbus A400M Atlas heavy military transport aircraft, completing a two-plane order the Central Asian country placed in 2021, the Kazakh Defense Ministry said on Nov. 2. The aircraft flew from Airbus' A400M final assembly line in Seville, Spain, to Almaty, where it joins the Air Defense Forces, Kazakhstan's combined air force and air defense branch. The ministry did not give the date of the ferry flight or say whether the aircraft had been formally handed over at a ceremony. Kazakhstan received its first A400M, production number MSN139, in Almaty in December 2024. The second aircraft made its first flight in August, and Airbus released photos on Oct. 1 showing it in Seville in a glossy gray finish with "Kazakhstan Air Force" titles, a red star on the tail and the number 22. The A400M is a four-engine turboprop airlifter that sits between the smaller C-130 Hercules and large strategic jets such as the C-17. It can carry up to 25 metric tons (55,000 pounds) of cargo or 116 paratroopers, haul heavy and outsized military equipment over long distances and land on short, unpaved airstrips. That gives Kazakhstan, the world's ninth-largest country by area, a way to move troops and equipment quickly across its own territory and abroad without relying on chartered or foreign aircraft. The Defense Ministry said the aircraft will be used for military tasks as well as for disaster response, evacuating civilians and delivering humanitarian aid. It said the pair will also let Kazakhstan fly its own troops to international peacekeeping missions, which until now has depended more on outside transport. Kazakh pilots, engineers and maintenance crews trained for the aircraft at Airbus' training center in Seville, where they studied how to fly, operate and maintain it, the ministry said. The original contract with Airbus covers maintenance and training support. Kazakhstan's military air transport fleet has long been built around Soviet designs, but the country has been buying from several suppliers. It operates Airbus C295 medium transports, which the A400Ms now fly alongside, as well as Chinese-built Y-8s, while its fighter fleet includes Russian Su-30SMs. When Kazakhstan ordered the A400Ms in September 2021, it became the ninth operator of the type, after Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Turkey, Belgium, Luxembourg and Malaysia. Indonesia has since become the tenth, and the Kazakh ministry said the A400M is now in service with the armed forces of ten countries.