{"id":53608,"date":"2015-02-09T11:49:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-09T11:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=855918ce7c5575aa18d1188e6ad05e30"},"modified":"2015-02-09T11:49:00","modified_gmt":"2015-02-09T11:49:00","slug":"news-story-uks-first-a400m-aircraft-named-city-of-bristol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=53608","title":{"rendered":"News story: UK\u2019s first A400M aircraft named \u201cCity of Bristol\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>The UK\u2019s first A400M Atlas has been named \u201cCity of Bristol\u201d by the Royal Air Force in a rare honour to highlight the important role industry in the city has played in the delivery of the aircraft. <\/p>\n<p>The wings of the next-generation military transporter plane were designed and manufactured at the Airbus factory in Filton, Bristol, with a number of other businesses in the city, including Rolls-Royce, GKN Aerospace, and Atkins, demonstrating a range of high quality aerospace skills which support the A400M programme. <\/p>\n<p>A total of 22 A400M Atlas aircraft have been ordered by the Ministry of Defence\u2019s procurement arm, Defence, Equipment and Support (DE&amp;S), which is also based in the city at Abbey Wood. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"image embedded\">\n<div class=\"img\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A400M Altas 'City of Bristol' facts and figures\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk\/government\/uploads\/system\/uploads\/image_data\/file\/36219\/A400M-Atlas-City-of-Bristol.jpg\"><\/div><figcaption>A400M Altas &#8216;City of Bristol&#8217; facts and figures<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The naming of the aircraft is a special privilege for Bristol, since it is unusual for the RAF to name an individual aircraft in this way. <\/p>\n<p>Speaking at a ceremony at the Airbus site to mark the event, Defence Minister Philip Dunne said: <\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The A400M programme has created or secured work for around 900 people at companies based here in Bristol and is providing skilled jobs in manufacturing, engineering and supply chain roles.<\/p>\n<p>Many of these jobs require training to acquire specialist new skills needed to help keep the UK aerospace sector at the forefront of this high technology industry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">The MOD is playing its part in contributing to our long-term economic plan and this A400M programme will become an important contributor to the defence supply chain, here in Bristol, for years to come.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>To mark the honour, the \u201cCity of Bristol\u201d A400M Atlas recently completed a fly-past of the Clifton Suspension Bridge which also served as a reminder of the engineering history of the city. <\/p>\n<p>Chief of Materiel Air, Air Marshal Simon Bollom said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The naming of the Royal Air Force\u2019s first  A400M aircraft as City of Bristol reflects a continuation of historical ties between Bristol and the Royal Air Force.<\/p>\n<p>Bristol is at the heart of the UK aerospace community which has progressed through time and industry from the Bristol built engines like Jupiter &#8211; the most successful aero engine of the 1920s &#8211; through to famous jets such as Concorde.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">This tradition continues with state of the art work being carried out at Airbus\u2019s Filton site on wings for the A400M, supported by complex work packages from GKN, Rolls-Royce and Atkins and this rare naming honour is recognition for the long and entrenched affiliation between the City of Bristol and British aviation.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Manufactured by Airbus Defence &amp; Space the A400M Atlas will replace the existing fleet of C-130 Hercules and represents major advances on its predecessor, with it capable of flying considerably faster, twice as far and able to carry almost twice as much cargo.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Royal Air Force has recognised important role Bristol has had with A400M Atlas by naming first aircraft &quot;City of Bristol&quot;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53608"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53608"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53634,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53608\/revisions\/53634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}