Airbus just turned its A400M transport into something much more dangerous. On April 18, 2026, the company confirmed a new mothership variant that can launch up to 12 cruise missiles or around 50 drones straight out of the cargo ramp, as reported by Interesting Engineering.

The payload stays internal, so the aircraft keeps its range and fuel efficiency. Development is underway with an undisclosed European customer, and this puts Europe on par with the US Air Force’s Rapid Dragon program.

The concept is simple and already proven in principle. Airbus loads standard military pallets into the A400M’s cargo bay. Each pallet carries missiles or drones along with release modules that manage timing and sequencing.

A parachute pulls the entire pallet out the rear cargo ramp during flight. Once the pallet stabilizes in the airflow, missiles drop one by one with careful spacing to prevent collisions. Each missile then starts its engine and flies toward its target.

This approach skips bomb bays and underwing pylons entirely. The rear ramp handles roughly 70,500 pounds per single load, so crews distribute payloads across multiple pallets rather than one. Turbulence from the four TP400-D6 turboprop engines also forces precise control over release timing and pallet orientation.

Airbus is using the Taurus KEPD 350 as its reference missile for sizing. The Taurus is a German-Swedish standoff cruise missile operational since 2006, built by Taurus Systems, a joint venture between MBDA Deutschland and Saab Bofors Dynamics. It measures 16.7 feet long and weighs close to 3,100 pounds at launch.