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The transport aircraft A400M (initially known as ATF, Avion de Transport Futur - future transport aircraft) intends to equip the European tactical transport fleet. It will mainly replace the old type of aircraft such as the Hercules C-130 and the Transall C-160 in service today. These military transport aircraft with a carrying capacity of 15 to 20 tonnes will start to be retired of service at the end of 2005, specially the old generation Transall which have been in service for nearly 40 years.

With the A400M, the aim is to standardise the European tactical transport fleet. To do so, the military requirements of seven countries (France, Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Turkey, Belgium and Luxembourg) were taken into consideration.

The development and production programme of the A400M is being conducted by Airbus Military SL. The management of the programme will be undertaken by OCCAR. The contract between OCCAR (nations representative) and Airbus Military SL was signed on the 27th May 2003 in Bonn.