A UK Royal Air Force (RAF) Airbus A400M Atlas transport aircraft has carried the type’s longest-ever non-stop flight, which took it from RAF Brize Norton to Guam for Exercise ‘Mobility Guardian 23’, the RAF announced on 5 July 2023.
The A400M departed Brize Norton on 3 July and, during a flight that lasted for 20 hours 36 minutes, was refuelled in the air three times: once over the Atlantic, once over Alaska, and once over the Pacific. The first refuelling was carried out by a Voyager air-to-air refuelling tanker from 10/101 Squadron, flying from the UK, while the second and third refuellings were carried out by a second Voyager that was operating from Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska.
The flight also took the Atlas closer to the North Pole than any previous flight by an A400M.
An RAF spokesperson told ESD that the overall payload carried by the Atlas during its flight to Guam was around 7 tonnes. This included 17 passengers in addition to the aircrew (including additional aircrew to facilitate the extended flight) as well as 10 pallets of cargo, which included aircraft spares, general exercise freight, a ground power unit, stretcher fits and associated equipment, and Arctic survival packs. The payload was thus a mix of cargo relatively commensurate with the kind of loadout that would be carried during a humanitarian aid/disaster relief operation.
The Atlas is now the RAF’s primary tactical airlift platform following the retirement of the RAF’s C-130J Hercules fleet at the end of June.
On arrival in Guam, the Atlas, together with an RAF Voyager, elements from the Tactical Medical Wing and other supporting personnel from across the RAF, joined ‘Mobility Guardian 23’. In addition to the US aircraft taking part in ‘Mobility Guardian’, the RAF detachment will be joined by aircraft and personnel from Australia, Canada, France, Japan, and New Zealand.
The RAF’s Air Mobility Force Commander, Air Commodore Anthony Lyle, was quoted as saying in an RAF press release, “Exercise ‘Mobility Guardian’ is an outstanding training opportunity for the Air Mobility Force; it allows us to demonstrate the speed, reach and utility of the RAF, underpinned by the assets from the Air Mobility Force and reinforces our ability to rapidly conduct global Air Operations.
“The non-stop flight of the A400M Atlas from RAF Brize Norton to Guam is a great example of our ability to project air power, allowing us to get aircraft, crews and vital equipment to the other side of the world in a timely manner and for them to be able to operate immediately.”
The object of Exercise ‘Mobility Guardian’, according to the RAF, is for the countries involved to develop their interoperability skills and understanding and so to be able to deliver air power if required and overcome the concept of ‘The Tyranny of Distance’.
During the exercise it is planned that sorties will be flown from and to Japan. Such activities by the RAF demonstrate the UK’s commitment to the Hiroshima Accord, signed by the UK and Japan on 18 May 2023. The accord emphasises that the security and prosperity of the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions are inseparable, prompting a strengthening of shared security capabilities.
Peter Felstead
