A Canadian military transport plane crashed into a French A400 M transporter on the American military base of Guam in the Pacific last Saturday, without causing any casualties, the French Ministry of the Armed Forces announced on Tuesday.
“On July 22, 2023 at 10:30 a.m., a Royal Canadian Air Force CC-150 aircraft accidentally grounded a French Air Force and Space A400M aircraft that was stationary in the parking lot of the United States Andersen Air Force Base on the island of Guam,” the statement said.
“The engines being cut and no one on board, no injuries are to be deplored. Damage was observed on the elevator of both aircraft. Analyzes are underway to assess the damage and carry out repairs as soon as possible. An investigation is underway to determine the causes of the incident,” adds the French government.
The incident was confirmed by the Canadian Ministry of Defence. He is “currently under investigation by Canadian, French and US Air Force authorities”.
The Canadian plane “was in Guam to bring back Canadian soldiers who had taken part in Exercise Mobility Guardian”, a joint transport exercise in the Pacific zone.
The A400M was in Guam to also participate in Mobility Guardian, and was part of the Pégase 23 mission, a force projection of around twenty French aircraft in Asia-Pacific, intended in particular to reinforce and show the presence of France in the area it calls “Indo-Pacific”.
The immobilization of the French aircraft, for an indefinite period for the moment, has no impact on the conduct of the Pégase exercise, the personnel and the freight having been distributed in other French aircraft, specified to AFP the Air and Space Force.
Four A400Ms are deployed as part of Pégase 23, which runs from the end of June to the beginning of August, and while Emmanuel Macron has been in the region since Monday, in the French territory of New Caledonia, before going to Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea.
