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.
