MoD Grounds Airbus A400M Atlas After Spain Crash

The Ministry of Defence has suspended flights of the RAF's A400M Atlas aircraft following the crash of one of the Airbus planes in Spain.

A spokesman for the MoD said "We are aware of reports that an A400M has crashed in Seville. As a precaution, the UK's A400M aircraft operations have been paused."

Six Spanish crew were aboard the aircraft which was undertaking a test flight before delivery to Turkey. Four people died in the crash and two are in hospital in a serious condition.

An Airbus Group team of crash investigators are assisting an official investigation into what caused the plane to crash in a field a mile from Seville's San Pablo airport.

The A400M is the RAF's newest aircraft, having taken delivery of the first plane 'The City of Bristol' in 2014. It didn't however carry its first operational payload until March of this year.

A further 21 of the tactical airlifters are scheduled for delivery by 2019. They'll operate out of RAF Brize Norton and replace the ageing C-130 Hercules fleet which is due to be retired in 2022.