Following the reorganisation of the A400M Programme already announced earlier, Kurt Rossner, currently head of Light & Medium & Derivatives within Military Aircraft, has been appointed head of A400M Programme, with effect from 1 April.
He will report directly to Fernando Alonso, head of Military Aircraft within Airbus Defence and Space. Rossner has a wide knowledge of the programme, after occupying different positions in the A400M organisation over the past years.
Rossner will replace Rafael Tentor, who will in turn replace Rossner as head of Light & Medium & Derivatives, a position Tentor already held before heading the A400M programme, and will also report directly to Alonso in this role.
Previous roles
In the period between 2011 and 2014, Rossner was president and CEO of Rheinmetall Air Defence.
In the period 2001 to 2010, Rossner held several positions in the then called EADS group. He entered the A400M programme in charge of manufacturing and industrial set-up in 2001, and then as head of Transport Aircraft and program manager of the A400M in Germany in 2002. He was then appointed director Flight Test and Test Facilities in Manching, Germany in 2003.
He became head of A400M in the Defence and Electronics business line in 2007, and head of Mission Avionics and member of the Defence and Electronics Board in Ulm, Germany, which also included responsibility for the A400M avionics, data link and system integration in 2008.
In 2010, he was appointed to the position of CEO and director of the Border Guard Development Programme for Cassidian in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Rossner started his career in 1988, working as Maintenance Design on Combat Aircraft for the Tornado and F4 programmes. Later on, in 1990, Rossner became part of the Development Design in the Component Improvement office for the EF2000, and he worked on several other programmes in different positions, including Transall, Tornado, Phantom F-4 and Fulcrum/Mig 29. After that, in 1999, he became senior project leader for Eurofighter in Hallbermoos.
Born in Ingolstadt, Germany (1963), Rossner graduated as mechanical engineer in aeronautical design, in 1988, at the University of Munich. He is married, has three children and his hobbies are running, motorcycling, golfing, family and friends.
