A Royal Air Force Atlas A400M transport aircraft conducted an Agile Combat Employment (ACE) on Exercise Arctic Phoenix in Norway to provide vital training for RAF personnel over the last two weeks. The Atlas A400M provided a platform for capability testing, a key focus of the exercise, which saw personnel from across the RAF deploy to Bardufoss Air Station in Northern Norway. RAF Medics used the aircraft as part of an aeromedical evacuation simulation to assess how the freezing temperatures could affect crucial lifesaving equipment and key medical procedures, both in the air and on the ground. The Atlas A400M also facilitated tests by the RAF Expeditionary Logistics Squadron whose staff established a tactical fuel system, known as an Air Landed Aircraft Refuelling System or ALARS, which supports fixed-wing aircraft operating in remote locations.
“ACE is an operational scheme of manoeuvre designed to improve resilience and survivability while generating air power from both home bases and geographically dispersed locations. ACE can be conducted from Main or Deployed Operating Bases and Contingency Locations – this requires a flexible, well prepared and coordinated approach by the deploying force and the receiving bases,” said General Gilles Juventin, Deputy Chief of Staff Support at Allied Air Command during an ACE symposium.
“This exercise has been vital to understanding our medical equipment’s capabilities in the extremes of the cold weather environment, acting as a stepping stone to allowing us to operate in similar conditions in the future,” said Flight Lieutenant Barrett, lead of the RAF Aeromedical Evacuation Team at Bardufoss.
Entering operational service with the Royal Air Force in 2014, Atlas (Atlas C.1 A400M) provides tactical airlift and strategic oversize lift capabilities complementing those of the Hercules and C-17 fleets. The team constructed a temporary fuel system using a fabric tank while utilising snow-filled sandbags to support to the structure before proving its functionality by de-fuelling and then re-fuelling the Atlas A400M. The first time this has been trialled by the RAF in the challenging arctic conditions of the High North. The ability to maintain flying operations from remote and austere locations is vital to the RAF being ready to survive and evade attack and outmanoeuvre an adversary, known as Agile Combat Employment or ACE.
The Airbus A400M Atlas is a European four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft. It was designed by Airbus Military, now Airbus Defence and Space, as a tactical airlifter with strategic capabilities to replace older transport aircraft. The A400M is sized between the C-130 and the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III. The Airbus A400M provides substantial improvements to payload, range, internal volume and operational capacity over the Transall C-160 and Lockheed C-130 that it replaces or augments. It can carry heavier loads than the C-130 and can use rough landing strips. In addition to its transport capabilities, the A400M can perform aerial refueling and medical evacuation when fitted with appropriate equipment.
