LUFTWAFFE: 2ND AIRBUS A321LR AND MEDEVAC CONVERSIONS
Lufthansa Technik AG has delivered its second Airbus A321neo LR to the German Air Force, intended for troop transport and parliamentary missions. But these two aircraft will soon be returned to the airline's MRO subsidiary, to be converted to medical evacuations.
After the handover ceremony of the first aircraft last June, Lufthansa Technik AG delivered the second A321LR (Long Range) to the Luftwaffe on August 17, 2022, with a transfer flight from Hamburg to Cologne-Bonn airport. Like its twin already in service with the tactical registration 15+10, the new 15+11 will also be available to the German Air Force "for troop transport and parliamentary air operations on short routes, medium and long-haul. The capacity of the two A321LRs in this configuration is 136 passengers.
In a small ceremony at the Lufthansa Technik base in Hamburg, “all personnel involved had already officially bid farewell to the aircraft last Friday. Not only the Lufthansa Technik project team was invited to attend, but also, among others, the involved staff from the German Federal Office for Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support of Bundeswehr (BAAINBw), the Bundeswehr Technical Center for Aircraft and Aeronautical Equipment ( WTD 61) and the German Air Force, which had previously subjected the 15+11 to an intensive program of testing and acceptance. With its completion, the first phase of the modification project is now complete.”
Lufthansa Technik stresses in its press release that the two single-aisle aircraft will return home "over the coming year", to be modified and certified for MedEvac (medical evacuation) functions in the second phase of the project. This will expand the aircraft's range of operations to include qualified airlift capabilities of injured, injured and ill passengers. In this context, three different configurations will be available to transport up to six intensive care patients or up to twelve slightly or moderately ill/injured patients. To this end, Lufthansa Technik will deliver a total of twelve units and two reserve units of the Next Generation Patient Transport Unit (PTE NG, Patiententransporteinheit Neuer Generation) to the German Armed Forces. The MRO company specifies that it has already been able to carry out various preliminary works for the MedEvac mission during the first phase of the project, "for example for the oxygen supply on board the two planes".
Recall that the Luftwaffe received from Lufthansa Technik a year ago the first of its three ACJ350-900s. The aircraft registered 10+03, ex D-GAF, was the first government aircraft in the world of this type, and therefore the first A350 in the world not to be used for commercial air services.
Goodbye 15+11! See you again soon! Today the 2nd @Airbus #A321LR troop transport for @team_luftwaffe has left our base to enter service with @bundeswehrInfo. In 2023, 15+11 and sister ship 15+10 will visit us again for #MedEvac modification. https://t.co/2NY6Bg5FrZ #keepyouflying pic.twitter.com/8lcSf0Ials
— Lufthansa Technik (@LHTechnik) August 17, 2022
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