Paris Air Show 2025: FOC declared for French A400M fleet as Airbus details new enhancements for the type

Airbus announced at the 2025 Paris Air Show, held at Le Bourget from 16 to 22 June, that the French Air and Space Force has declared a full operational capability (FOC) with its fleet of A400M airlifters.

“A full operational capability is based on aircraft, but also is about crews, maintenance, training and infrastructure,” Airbus stated in a 19 June press release. “What the French air force is communicating today is the combination of all these items, including the last certification reached with the aircraft: the ability to drop a special forces boat for the French Navy Commandos, which was achieved last February.”

The French Air and Space Force currently has a 24-strong A400M fleet, with another 26 aircraft on order. The type has now been in French service for more than 10 years.

Meanwhile, Airbus is looking to enhance the A400M’s capabilities in a number of ways. In October 2024 Airbus signed a contract with the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR), which manages the A400M programme on behalf of launch customer nations – Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Turkey, Belgium and Luxembourg – regarding a Block 0 upgrade for the aircraft. This will improve key A400M elements such as flight management systems and will bring tactical information enhancements and the implementation of a satellite-based landing system. The Block Upgrade 0 contract covers the development, certification, embodiment and in-service support of these enhancements and is due to be completed by the end of 2026.

At the 2025 Paris Air Show, however, Airbus detailed additional A400M enhancements that are in the works. These include: an increase in the aircraft’s maximum allowable payload from 37 tonnes to 40 tonnes; development of a roll-on/roll-off firefighting payload, tests of which have already been conducted in Spain; the ability to act as a mothership for the launch of remote carrier air vehicles off the rear ramp (a modified Airbus Do-DT25 drone was first test-launched from an A400M in late 2022); enhanced connectivity, allowing the A400M to act as a communications hub as part of a ‘combat cloud’; and electronic warfare enhancements that move beyond self-protection systems to allow the A400M to perform a stand-off jammer role to disable hostile air defence assets.