French Text
Although its retirement was announced for a while for 2005, the C-160
Transall is still the principal lynchpin of French military air
transport. More than forty years after it went into service, this
twin-engined tactical transport has been present in all the theaters of
operation where the French army has been deployed, not to mention the
numerous humanitarian operations which have taken it all over the globe.
Handled with dexterity by its crews, the Transall is always impressive
when it's a question of getting down to the nitty-gritty and showing
some muscle in the most unlikely situations, but for how much longer
now? It is not wise to ignore the potential difficulties and dangers of
using worn-out and aging aircraft in combat in spite of all its
qualities.