A unit of A400M at Melsbroek
(BRUSSELS2) The Belgian and French Defense Ministers, Pieter de Crem and Jean-Yves Le Drian welcomed today (3 September) the project to create a joint A400M unit, based in Belgium at the military airport of Bruxelles de Melsbroek (located behind the civil airport of Brussels Zaventem). To tell the truth, the Belgian minister supported the idea; the French approved it, emphasizing that it was a " good concrete example of cooperation between the two countries, without going into more detail.
The unit could be based in Melsbroek. According to the information gathered and the concept, approved on June 12, this unit should include a dozen planes: the 7 Belgian planes and the Luxembourg plane, 2 French planes and 2 German planes. Prior to their arrival, the airport facilities must be arranged. The current hangars, designed to accommodate the C130s, must in particular be adapted to the (larger) A400Ms. On the Belgian defense side, in 2012 the development work on the airport was estimated at 125 million euros (as the Belgian minister pointed out during a debate in parliament). However, the partners have a little time... If the delivery schedule is respected, the first Belgian A400M aircraft will arrive in 2018 or rather 2019. They will gradually replace the existing C-130s.
A series of details will also have to be settled, in particular the sharing of organizational and operating costs. Participating countries are not starting from scratch. They could be based on the example of the EATC, the European cooperation in the field of transport aircraft, based at Eindhoven airport.
Read also about the EATC:
