The Airbus A300-600ST, better known as Beluga, can soon also be used for military purposes. By doing so the manufacturer wants to respond to the growing demand for options for transporting large equipment by air. Capacity is scarce due to the war in Ukraine.

Until recently, armed forces from various countries regularly hired large Antonov cargo planes from Ukrainian and Russian airlines. This is now more difficult due to the conflict between those two countries. Airbus hopes to partly solve that.

The Beluga is typically used to transport fuselage sections between Airbus production sites. However, the type is slowly being replaced by the larger A330-700L BelugaXL. That is why Airbus decided earlier to use the old Beluga's for commercial rental.

Because of a self-developed loading system, it is now also possible to bring large helicopters on board, so that the Beluga also becomes interesting for military users. Tests have now been carried out with a CH-53 of the German army. It can be prepared for transport in 1.5 hours and loaded on board in an hour.

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* Origin: AVIATION ECHO HQ (2:292/854)