Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what decisions were taken at the recent NATO Ministerial meeting on the Airbus A400m aircraft.

At the A400M Ministerial meeting on 28 June 2019, a decision was made to progress negotiations with the engine manufacturer on the future support solution for the TP-400 engine, with a view to significantly reducing support costs. Ministers directed that Airbus Defence and Space, as the prime contractor, should participate in those negotiations.

Agreement was also reached to sign a six-nation aircraft support contract to provide common support services and spares to supplement national arrangements and a decision was taken that the A400M Programme Division of OCCAR would relocate from its current base in Toulouse to Madrid in 2022 to enable closer working between the sponsor, prime contractor and subcontractor.