More A400 delays?

[teacher]

I wonder if Pratt's engine type would have faired better? I think we all remember the story of P&WC getting shafted out of the A400 engine deal because they wanted a Europian engine on the plane. Better engine and better price and they still lost out due to Europrop being allowed to rebid (with I'm sure a few govornment subsidies) on the contract after getting back room info on P&WC's bid. Although P&WC I'm sure has had it's share of help. Regardless, good thing DND went for the C-17, at this rate we'd be waiting a long time for our first A400.

A400M delays prompt Europrop management reshuffle

By Craig Hoyle

Rolls-Royce and Snecma have assumed increased responsibility for delivering the Airbus Military A400M transport's TP400-D6 turboprop engine, after ongoing delays forced a top-level management reshuffle at the Europrop International consortium.

The consortium's managing director José Massol left the company with immediate effect on 1 October after holding the post for two years, and was replaced by Nick Durham, formerly director of services and helicopters at R-R's Defence Aerospace division. Snecma chief executive Phillippe Petitcolin has meanwhile been appointed a non-executive chairman to the collaborative venture, which also incorporates Spain's ITP and Germany's MTU Aero Engines.

"These appointments reflect the increased role that Rolls-Royce and Snecma are taking to strengthen the management of the programme," says Europrop. "Together, we will maintain and reinforce our current efforts to provide to Airbus Military the new generation TP400-D6 engines answering the challenging A400M," says Petitcolin. The reorganisation decision was supported by all four Europrop shareholders, the company says.


© Airbus Military


Airbus Military's flight-test schedule for the A400M has already been pushed back by several months due to factors including a four-month delay to final-assembly activities and the late availability of test engines. Main stakeholder EADS expects the aircraft to make its flight debut around mid-2008, but recently revealed that a fresh internal audit of the project will report shortly whether an additional schedule slip could be encountered.

A TP400 test engine had been due to fly in the UK earlier in 2007 on a Lockheed Martin C-130 testbed, but Europrop now expects this milestone to occur late this year, after delivering the power plant to Marshall Aerospace later this month. Development of the 11,000shp (8,200kW) engine has been delayed by factors including oil system contamination, and by the need to redesign some components after encountering higher than expected loads during bench testing.

Final assembly of the A400M started at EADS Casa's Seville plant in Spain in late August. Airbus Military still hopes to deliver its first of 192 production aircraft now under contract to launch user the French air force in late 2009.

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/20 ... uffle.html

[WJflyer]

And that's why we did not choose the A400M!

[the_professor]

So now that our C-17s are flying around the globe and getting the job done, where are Stephane Dion and Jack Layton and their big mouths, who opposed the C-17 purchase and wanted us to consider, among other things, the A400?

Dion would say: "I don't know why we didn't do dat airplane contract dere wit dose euro-payans. Dey have a better pro-duck and we only would 'ave wait four year for it."

Layton is probably trapped in traffic somewhere in downtown Ottawa on his ridiculous bicycle.

Both are morons, and thank god these kinds of decisions are not left up to them.

[WJflyer]

So now that our C-17s are flying around the globe and getting the job done, where are Stephane Dion and Jack Layton and their big mouths, who opposed the C-17 purchase and wanted us to consider, among other things, the A400?

Dion would say: "I don't know why we didn't do dat airplane contract dere wit dose euro-payans. Dey have a better pro-duck and we only would 'ave wait four year for it."

Layton is probably trapped in traffic somewhere in downtown Ottawa on his ridiculous bicycle.

Both are morons, and thank god these kinds of decisions are not left up to them.

C-17 number 177702 is coming October 11th, if I remember the delivery schedule correctly.

Also, we have saved money in this project due to the exchange rate; now with the Canadian dollar at parity with the US, purchase costs for the C-17 has dropped by over 30%.

And here it is, glorious 177702:

[teacher]

I'm sure old Jack and Stephane would have changed their tune blaiming the feds for screwing up and choosing the wrong plane causing more delays for the military had we selected the A400. Swing opposition swing as the wind blows!! Good choice on the C-17!!

A400M delivery delays to cost EADS up to €1.4 billion

By Craig Hoyle

EADS will confirm, on 8 November, the full scale of an up to €1.4 billion ($2.0 billion) charge linked to the development and flight-test delays that have affected its delivery schedule for the nine-nation Airbus Military A400M transport.

At best, the penalty for the third quarter of 2007 will be €1.2 billion, it says, with Airbus to carry over €1 billion of this total.

"This estimate is the best that can be established at this point of the programme development, and is consistent with the delays of six months - with a risk of a further slippage of up to a half year - that were announced on 17 October," EADS says.


© Airbus Military


The final value of the charge will be confirmed during the company's third-quarter results announcement later this week, and will have a major impact on Airbus's financial performance this year. The airframer reported earnings before interest and tax of almost €1.5 billion for the first six months of this year.

Beyond its previous warning of a potential delivery delay of up to one year to the French air force, the A400M launch operator, EADS cautions that its massive financial charge "does not include new potential issues that could arise from flight testing, engine development and military systems".

The announcement comes as more bad news for the A400M programme's seven European launch nations and two export customers. They have between them ordered 192 of the four-engined transport and had expected deliveries to start in November 2009.

A source linked to the Europrop International TP400-D6 engine project has meanwhile confirmed that the consortium failed to meet an EADS-imposed late October deadline to deliver a test engine to the UK's Marshall Aerospace, but claims its transfer is "imminent".

The engine is needed to support risk-reduction flight tests for the A400M propulsion system, which had been scheduled to start in early 2007 using a Lockheed Martin C-130 testbed.

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/20 ... llion.html

[WJflyer]

And that's why you try to avoid equipment that is not in service and hasn't even left the drawing board yet. Buy stuff that is off the shelf and in service with other nations. That means we can share on maintenance, de-bug problems collectively, lower costs, and reduce risk.

[teacher]

And it continues...........

EADS running out of patience on A400M refinancing

By Andrew Doyle

EADS is warning the Airbus Military A400M customer nations that time is running out to save the troubled airlifter, which programme sources say is costing the company more than €100 million ($143 million) a month to sustain.

"We are negotiating," says EADS. "We cannot take the burden all alone. We need to share the burden."

Sources close to the programme rate the chances of a refinancing deal for the A400M being agreed before EADS's end-of-January deadline at "50:50".

The project, running around two years late with the prototype having finally achieved its maiden flight in December, requires another €11.4 bllion of funding to complete. EADS has already made a €2.4 billion provision, leaving additional costs of around €9 billion that need to be covered by the seven partner nations and industry.

EADS declines to comment on reports that it is seeking another €5.3billion from the nations. Representatives of the customer nations will reportedly meet EADS officials for further talks in London on 15 January.

Germany, the biggest A400M buyer with an order for 60, has taken a hard line, warning it is not prepare to contribute more than a further €650 million to cover inflation and surcharges, as set out in its contract. France and the UK have taken a more conciliatory approach, saying that they expect deal to be reached to continue the programme.

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/20 ... ncing.html

[moocow]

Which country or countries order A400M but got pissed off and drop their orders last year?

[Carrier]

Two months ago South Africa cancelled eight of them.

http://www.pprune.org/african-aviation/ ... elled.html

http://www.africanews.com/site/SA_cance ... ages/27982

[canadafreak]

I've read on Aviation News Netherlands (luchtvaartnieuws.nl) that the project leader for the A400 is getting things ready to pull the plug all together on this aircraft. The article said that customers are not willing to pay the extra cost to get things sound on this plane. I can hardly imagine that action but time will tell.

[moocow]

I think it may be or already had reach a point where they (customers) already committed too much money in this project to pull the plug completely. Notice that it was SA that pulled out and EU customers are teetering on pulling the plug. With most military projects, there are political investments and A400M may not die at all. Just look at the mess Tanker-X is having down south.

[Old Dog Flying]

A certain CAF retired General was lobbying for Airbus before getting into politics and when his 'expertize" earned him the position of Minister of National Defence, he tried to force this pig on our troops. Go figure!

[teacher]

It could be just posturing but the situation seems pretty dire. Note the comment about engines..........

A400M 'cannot continue' without more funding, warns Airbus CEO
By Murdo Morrison

EADS chief executive Louis Gallois says the A400M programme cannot continue beyond the end of the month without a commitment by European customer governments to fund the increased costs of developing the military airlifter.

Speaking at an event in Seville today, Gallois said the European giant was spending between €100-150 million ($145-217 million) a month on the programme, which is running two years behind schedule. "We cannot continue beyond the end of January without knowing where we are going financially," he said. "I am sending a message of urgency to governments. We are ready to negotiate at any time."

Gallois said EADS had made a "mistake in accepting a fixed price contract on a programme with huge technical challenges and an unrealistic schedule". He said there were "responsibilities on both sides" for the delay, which has left EADS with a shortfall of €2.4 billion.

"It was the nations who pushed the production sharing between countries, including some choices with engines," he said. "We must find a solution for sharing the burden with them...if we want to protect the capacity of the group, we can't add losses to losses without clear limits."

However, Gallois refused to detail what EADS might do if no further agreement is secured by the end of the month. "Can you leave us room to negotiate with our customers?" he said.

Tom Enders, chief executive of Airbus, which now has direct responsibility for the Airbus Military business, backed his boss's threat. "We cannot continue without a significant financial contribution from our customers. If we don't press for that it will jeopardise the whole of Airbus. The A400M as it is set up today will put the whole of Airbus in jeopardy and I will not go down that road.

Pressure on defence budgets as a result of rising deficits has added to frustration over delayed deliveries among A400M customers, who include France, Germany, Spain and the UK, and politicians in all these countries have warned that taxpayers ought not to have to fund the rising costs of the programme.

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/20 ... irbus.html

[2R]

It will be a close race to see whether Holand or Germany cancels first.
The whole project or one very similar will be made in China either by EADS or the "partners" already making the Chinese Airbus

Considering the Germans sold most of their interest in Airbus this could be the other shoe falling for the project.

[teacher]

Conceived in the late 1980s, the project ran into trouble a decade later when no one could decide which engines to use. Airbus, sensibly, wanted to adapt an existing Pratt & Whitney Canada turboprop engine for its new baby. Doing so would have removed a lot of the development risk and cost from the project (and probably ensured that Canada would have become a customer). Instead, the European governments wanted a new, homegrown engine. An engine consortium (composed of Rolls-Royce of Britain, MTU of Germany, Snecma of France and Spain's ITP) was cobbled together in 2003, with predictable delays from predictable technical problems. Costs rose.

http://www.globeinvestor.com/servlet/st ... 3/GIStory/

[Big Pistons Forever]

This is all just posturing. There are too many high paying jobs at stake to kill this project. All the EU customer governments will eventually pony up the cash.

[tincanflyer]

Here our first new C-130
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/20 ... tshop.html