The French Armed Forces Ministry announced Tuesday that a Canadian military transport plane collided with a French A400M tanker at the US military base in Guam in the Pacific Ocean last Saturday, without causing any casualties.
“On July 22, 2023 at 10:30 a.m., a Royal Canadian Air Force CC-150 accidentally grounded a French Air Force and Aerospace A400M aircraft that was stationary in the parking lot of US Air Force Base Andersen on the island of Guam,” the statement said.
“The engines are cut off and there is no one on board, there are no injuries that we must condemn. Damage was noted in the elevator of both planes. Analyzes are under way to assess the damage and make repairs as soon as possible. An investigation is underway to determine the causes of the accident,” adds the French government.
The Canadian Ministry of Defense confirmed the incident. It is “currently under investigation by Canadian, French and US Air Force authorities”.
The Canadian aircraft was “in Guam to bring back Canadian soldiers who took part in Exercise Mobility Ranger,” a joint transportation exercise in the Pacific region.
The A400M was in Guam to also participate in the Mobility Guardian, and was part of the Pégase 23 mission, a force of about two dozen French aircraft in the Asia-Pacific region, aimed in particular at strengthening and demonstrating France’s presence in the region it calls the “Indo-Pacific”.
The immobilization of the French aircraft, for an indefinite period for the time being, has no effect on the conduct of the Pégase exercise, as the personnel and cargo have been distributed in other French aircraft, assigned to the Air and Space Forces.
Four A400Ms have been 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 area since Monday, in the French territory of New Caledonia, before heading to Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea.
