On 17 August 2022, Lufthansa Technik delivered a second Airbus A321LR to the German Air Force, following the first aircraft’s ceremonial handover in June 2022.
Like its sister aircraft – already in service with the tactical registration 15+10 – the new 15+11 will now also be available to the German Air Force for troop transport and parliamentary flight operations on short-, medium- and long-haul routes. The respective capacity of each of the two aircraft in this configuration is 136 passengers.
During a small ceremony at Lufthansa Technik’s base in Hamburg, Germany, all involved personnel officially bid farewell to the aircraft on 12 August 2022, before its transfer flight to Cologne-Bonn. Others at the event included, among others, the personnel involved from the German Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (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 testing and acceptance programme. The first phase of the modification project is now complete.
In the coming year, however, both A321LRs will return to Lufthansa Technik to be modified and certified for medevac duties, 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, injured and diseased passengers.
In this context, three different configurations will be available to transport up to six intensive care patients or up to 12 mildly or moderately ill/injured patients. To this end, Lufthansa Technik will deliver a total of 12 units and two reserve units of the Patient Transport Unit New Generation (PTE NG) to the German armed forces. The company has already completed some preliminary work for the medevac mission – for example for the oxygen supply on board both aircraft – during the first phase of the project.
Images: Lufthansa Technik AG
