The wear and tear of a French A400M Atlas transport aircraft after ten years in service

The excellent European transport aircraft Airbus A400M Atlas made its maiden flight on December 11, 2009, 15 years ago.

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The first production aircraft entered service in 2013, 12 years ago, with the French Air Force. France has made extensive use of these aircraft in a variety of missions. On April 28, the Polish military daily Polska Zbrojna published this video recorded at the 31st Tactical Air Base in Krzesiny, Poznań, Poland, showing Polish F-16 fighter jets taking off, and French Rafale fighter jets, an A330MRT tanker aircraft, and A400M Atlas transport aircraft during exercise Pégase 25:

This video caught my attention because of the appearance of one of the French A400Ms, the F-RBAE, an aircraft that made its first flight on May 12, 2014, and was delivered to the French Air Force on September 8 of that year. So, it hasn't even completed 11 years in service yet.

What surprised me about this video was, specifically, the following image:

In addition to a somewhat worn gray fuselage, stains can be seen in the cockpit area, perhaps traces of repainting.

One of the things I liked most about the A400M when I first saw it was its pristine gray paint. As I explained here in 2016, the A400Ms are equipped with antistatic paint to dissipate electrostatic charges. All non-conductive exterior surfaces of the aircraft are painted with an antistatic conductive coating, and a non-conductive coating made of anti-corrosion paint is applied over this layer.

Obviously, paints don't last forever. They wear down with constant exposure to the sun, extreme temperatures during flight, and adverse weather conditions. In this other image, we can see more signs of wear on the port side of the cockpit:

On April 27, the French General Staff published this photo in which we can see the wear of the gray color on the plane's fuselage.

Obviously, this is nothing unexpected. French A400Ms must have been exposed to very harsh conditions during their deployments to Africa and other locations with harsh climates. The result is a somewhat lackluster appearance, nothing that a good paint job can't fix.

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Main photo: Armée française - Opérations militaires.