Beginning of April, EATC has released the first “cross-maintenance operations” manual (EXOM) for the A400M. This is an important step into multinational cooperation and in particular into options to share maintenance teams. It paves the way to build multinational teams certified to work on the same aircraft.
The Commander EATC, Major-General Andreas Schick, is convinced that the EXOM is “very beneficial to the Air Forces. It exploits the potential of a multinational procurement project, improving effectiveness and efficiency. Moreover it is a significant air power force multiplier, enabling nations to reduce their logistic footprint during deployments or during daily operations.”
Cross-maintenance has been on EATC’s agenda for years. A first step was the release of the EATC “A400M cross-exchange of technicians” manual in 2019. After that, EATC developed the EXOM investigating more facets of cross-maintenance. The first operational demonstration will take place this June during the “light house project” event*. The light house project is a long term project aiming to achieve the capability of deploying a commonly operated and sustainable multinational A400M detachment in operations.
General Schick concludes that “cross-maintenance is an essential step in the development of the A400M programme. This is why, to prove the EXOM, EATC decided to focus in the first step on the A400M. Later, we will include the A330 MRTT and C-130J. Together with our nations, we will enlarge the scope of certified cooperation and eventually enable the deployment of fully integrated multinational detachments. ”
*This event will take place from 05 to 16 June in Orléans in the framework of the European Tactical Airlift Programme — training course (ETAP-C). A400M aircraft and personnel from FRA, BEL/LUX and DEU will participate in this first demonstration. In addition ESP is participating with a maintenance team.