French military airplane touches down at northern airports

Transport plane’s visits part of mission to test aircraft in Arctic conditions, KRG says more could come

An Airbus A400M French Airforce military airplane lands in Puvirnituq Jan. 17 as part of a training mission. (Photo courtesy of Eugene Putugu)

By Cedric Gallant - Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

People in several northern communities might have recently noticed a peculiar sight at their airports: a French military plane.

“We never got any information that we would be receiving this aircraft,” Puvirnituq Mayor Lucy Qalingo said.

The plane was an Airbus A400M Atlas four-engine turboprop military transport plane. It has the capacity to carry up to 37 tonnes of cargo and 116 passengers, the French military’s website says.

“I just saw it when it was about to land, and I was trying to go to a meeting, and the employees there just went to see the aircraft.” 

Qalingo said the community was caught off-guard by the plane’s arrival, with many people wondering what was going on. That said, she didn’t hear of the landing causing any trouble with airport operations.

The A400M plane also landed in Cambridge Bay, Resolute Bay, Iqaluit this month. The visits were part of a French air force training mission.

“The plane completed a mission in Canada to demonstrate its capacity to operate in very cold conditions and on icy or snowy airstrips,” said Lt. Melissa Genua, with France’s air force, in a French email.

The front of the A400M French military airforce plane that landed in Puvirnituq. (Photo courtesy of Eugene Putugu)

“The main objective was to validate the practical capabilities of these extreme environments, after years of theoretical knowledge and exchanges with the Danish army.”

There were 21 participants from the 25th Génie de l’Air regiment — an air force engineering regiment — in the seven-day mission. They tested snowy and icy airstrips and exchanged knowledge with Canadian experts on organization methods, training and airstrip maintenance. 

“The mission is part of a global plan to increase the skills of French forces in polar terrains,” Genua said.

“It permitted a significant gain in experience in an environment that is particularly demanding and established more advanced co-operation with the Canadian military.”

The team intends to do other missions in collaboration with the Danish army and Greenland. 

Acting Kativik Regional Government transportation director Akin Akindele says it is possible that other planes of this kind are could land in places like Puvirnituq in the future.

“When the runway is available, we [grant] aircraft permission to use it,” he said in an email.

“There have been previous occasions where military aircraft from outside Canada have landed and taken off from our runways.”

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(3) Comments:

  1. Posted by André Côté on

    Enfin, on va peut-être installé des bases dans l’artique si les résultats sont comparables ou supérieur à nos C130 Hercules qui vieillissent. La menace russe nous indiquent bien qu’ils veulent s’emparer de la voie du passage Nord ouest. Trump aussi a un oeuil de ce côté là avec le Groënland. Seul le Canada avec ses gestes timides avec les rangers inuit ou l’envoi de réservistes ou réguliers aux dix-20 ans d’intervalles.
    J’étais à l’île ellesmere et Resolute Bay en 1975 avec in contingent de 100 réservistes et ce fut une expérience hors du commun.

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  2. Posted by Sisa M on

    The French Foreign Legion were in a training with Canadian Rangers 😉

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  3. Posted by Chesley on

    Radhika Desai a professor with the U of Manitoba’s recent video on the Geopolitical Economic Report show has interesting ideas about he similarity of Canada and the USA. They and we are being governed by uni-parties, check the Geopolitical Economic Report for more 🙂

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