Airbus Delivers First A400M Military Transport Plane to French Air Force

After years of delays and huge cost overruns, Airbus on Sept. 30 delivered its first A400M, handing over the huge turboprop to France.
The pan-European aircraft maker hopes the official handover ceremony at the Airbus Military plant in Seville will launch strong sales to air forces worldwide following a difficult birth.
The French minister, who was returning to a military base in Orleans aboard the plane after the ceremony, said France still planned to take 50 of the A400M aircraft, which has propellers more than 5 meters (16 feet) long.
But the minister, who celebrated the A400M as a "technological feat," said France would take only 15 planes "right now" in its 2014-19 supply program currently being debated in parliament.
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