In the last few weeks, Armée de l’air et de l’espace (the French Air and Space Force) performed a few interesting operations with Airbus A400M Atlas airlifter in extreme weather conditions. They included two cold weather missions and one equatorial deployment, which not only set new milestones but also proved the capabilities of the aircraft.
Somewhat under the shade of the aforementioned operations there was another impressive mission, performed by much smaller transport aircraft, the French Air and Space Force CASA CN-235 of Escadron de Transport 82 (82nd Transport Squadron) ´Maine´, being based at Faaʻa air base, Tahiti Island.
In early February, the French CN-235 airlifter successfully crossed the southwestern Pacific, flying from Tahiti to New Zealand. The aircraft and its crew spent thirteen and a half hours in the air, and made a stopover at Tonga Islands.
In New Zealand, the CASA landed at RNZAF Woodbourne and Whenuapai air bases.
The mission, apart from setting a new milestone for the French Air and Space Force, was focused on increasing the cooperation between the Pacific Rim nations and was the opportunity to share experiences and technical support with the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
In addition, to optimise Armée de l’air et de l’espace resources in the Pacific area, during the exercise the CN-235 carried about a tonne of payload. The crew dropped and took the cargo at the Tontouta air base in New Caledonia.
All photos © French Ministry of Defence. Information from the press releases of the French Ministry of Defence – published on the MoD page in March of 2025 – were used, in accordance to the etalab-2.0 licence.
