French A400M makes first-ever landing on Arctic sea ice in Greenland
A French Air and Space Force A400M Atlas has landed on Arctic sea ice
in northern Greenland, in what France’s CEAM Air Warfare Center
described as a first operational achievement for the
transport aircraft in such natural extreme conditions.
The operation was carried out during the Tunupex and Uppick 2026
exercises by the tactical transport test team EM ATT 01.338 “Albret,” in
cooperation with the 25th Air Engineer Regiment.
At the center of the mission was a landing in the Kap Harald Moltke
fjord, in far northern Greenland at 82 degrees north latitude, with
temperatures around -25 degrees Celsius.
According to CEAM, the aircraft, weighing more than 100 tons, touched
down on a natural sea-ice strip measuring less than 1,400
meters and located only 150 meters from the shore. The landing area had
not been prepared by heavy equipment and consisted of bare ice partially
covered with snow.
A landing enabled by ground reconnaissance
CEAM said the mission was preceded by weeks of technical preparation.
Specialists in austere landing zones from the 25th Air Engineer
Regiment, supported by Danish counterparts, had
previously identified and surveyed a potential site about 250
kilometers from Station Nord, a Danish military outpost in northeastern
Greenland.
The reconnaissance took two days by snowmobile, while a specialist
from France’s High Mountain Military Group, or GMHM, helped secure
movements and terrain assessment in the polar environment.
The landing was not only a test of the aircraft and crew. CEAM said
the A400M also carried out a full recovery mission for mountain
commandos taking part in Uppick 2026, loading seven snowmobiles with
sleds and 11 personnel. The French military presented the mission as a
demonstration of its ability to insert and recover a detachment in an
isolated Arctic area without airport infrastructure.
CEAM said the broader effort is intended to expand the A400M’s
ability to operate from snowy, icy and improvised surfaces, while also
feeding France’s FRA ACE, or Agile Combat Employment, concept.
