Development of new onboard patient transport units

Lufthansa Technik AG recently began the strategic further development of its proven patient transport unit PTE (German: Patiententransporteinheit) for the air transport of patients in intensive medical care. Based on an order placed by the German Armed Forces in 2020, an initial 26 PTE NG (New Generation) units will be produced over the next two years.

The further development for the German Armed Forces is based on the Patient Transport Unit (PTU) NG in international service, of which Lufthansa Technik recently delivered eight additional units to NATO's Multinational Multi Role Tanker Transport fleet. One goal of the further development is to make the PTE NG flexibly deployable on all suitable aircraft types of the German Armed Forces. To enable it to be used, for example, on both the Airbus A400M and the future Airbus A321neoLR of the German Air Force, it will receive all the necessary military and also civil approvals as both aviation and medical equipment.

The specification and airworthiness certification will be carried out by Lufthansa Technik. The specialized Swiss medical device manufacturer Aerolite has been contracted to develop and manufacture the system. For installation in different aircraft types, the partners have also developed a special concept that allows electrical connection to various on-board power systems with direct and alternating current. Installation requires no tools and takes only a few minutes.

"The ease of adaptation to a wide variety of aircraft types is a decisive advantage of the new PTE NG for the German Armed Forces," said Mirco Laufer-Beuser, Senior Engineer Aeromedical Solutions at Lufthansa Technik. "This enables us to provide our customer with the greatest possible flexibility in successfully managing its increasingly extensive range of missions."

"With this order, we are also following up on an almost 20-year success story of first-generation PTEs," adds Oliver Thomaschewski, Head of Product and Project Management Aircraft Components at Lufthansa Technik in Hamburg.

The German Armed Forces currently operate 37 first-generation PTEs, which were procured at the time for the Airbus A310 MRTT and C-160 Transall. Almost all of them are still in daily service, since 2018 also on the Airbus A400M. The new generation will also meet the requirements of the German Air Force's future transport fleet. The wealth of experience gained from Bundeswehr missions flows directly into the PTE NG.