Troop transport will also serve in MedEvac role

The Lufthansa Technik team celebrates the handover with representatives from the German armed forces

Lufthansa Technik AG has handed over two Airbus A321LR (Long Range) troop carriers to the German armed forces. The complex conversion was carried out at Lufthansa Technik's base in Hamburg.

The first of the two aircraft with tactical designation 15+10 was handed over in June at the International Aerospace Exhibition (ILA) in Berlin. In attendance were Lufthansa Technik COO Sören Stark and Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury, as well as the State Secretary at the German Ministry of Defense, Benedikt Zimmer, and the Inspector General of the German Air Force, Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz. Now, in August 2022, the handover of the second aircraft of the same type with the registration number 15+11 has taken place in Hamburg.

Both aircraft are modified for flexible troop and passenger transport as well as government VIP flight operations on short-, medium- and long-haul routes. The maximum capacity in this configuration is 136 passengers. Next to Lufthansa Technik's project team, other invitees to the farewell ceremony for 15+11 included personnel from the German Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw), Bundeswehr Technical Center 61 and the German Air Force, which had also previously subjected the 15+11 to an intensive testing and acceptance program. The hand-over marks the end of the first phase of the modification project.

In the coming year, both A321LRs will return to Lufthansa Technik once again to be modified and certified for the so-called MedEvac armament roll in the second phase of the project. This will expand the aircraft's range of operations to include capabilities for the qualified air transport of wounded, accident victims and the sick. In this context, three different configurations will in future be able to transport up to six intensive care patients or up to twelve mildly or moderately ill/injured patients. To this end, Lufthansa Technik will deliver a total of twelve units and two reserve units of the Patient Transport Unit New Generation (PTE NG) to the German armed forces. The company was able to complete various preliminary work for the MedEvac mission, for example for the oxygen supply on board the two aircraft, during the first phase of the project.

Via Lufthansa Technik