Tuzmen told reporters prior to the ceremony held under the auspices of King Juan Carlos of Spain, "Turkish designers, engineers and technicians took part in this project."

"The project was initiated in 2003 by seven partner nations (Turkey, France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg and Britain). Our designers, engineers and technicians have taken part in the project from the very beginning. Some parts of the aircraft was manufactured in Turkey. We earned nearly 1.5 billion euro from the project," he said.

"The aircraft equipped with new technologies doubles cargo capacity over existing aircraft, both in payload and volume, and range is increased substantially as well," he said.

Tuzmen said, "Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. (TUSAS) has already begun exporting the aircraft. We have sold 8 aircraft to South Africa and 4 to Malaysia, making 12 in the aggregate."

A400M

Designed by Airbus Military, the A400M is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft.

It has a capacity of 37 tons (120 fully equipped troops or paratroops, up to 66 stretchers accompanied by 10 medical personnel, two helicopters). Its maximum takeoff weight is 136.5 tons and its maximum speed is 560 km/h.

The first test flight of the aircraft is scheduled for the end-summer of 2008.

Under the program, 180 aircraft will be delivered to seven partner nations. Turkey will receive 10 aircraft in 2009.

AA