It is just as well the Airbus Defence & Space A400M tactical transport is a military aircraft, because it seems to be forever under fire. Fire, that is, from a string of technical problems that have dogged the programme both in the run-up to its much-delayed 2009 maiden flight and in subsequent years. Much of that trouble has been engine-related. The Europrop International (EPI) consortium has delivered the Western world's most powerful turboprop ever, in the form of the TP400-D6, but such performance has not been easily achieved. The latest problem involves the Avio Aero-supplied propeller gearbox, which has in some cases been undermined by vibration. An interim solution has been retrofitted, but approval for a permanent fix to reduce vibration and "reinforce endurance and reliability" will not come until during 2018.
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