A400M termination deadline looms

[Mackrick]

EADS acknowledges that "as the A400M will not perform its first flight before the end of March 2009" the customer - European procurement agency OCCAR - has a contractual right to claim termination of the entire contract as of 1 April, if "a unanimous mandate of all the launch nations" is secured.

[Mayfly]

do you know if there is specific problem or is it the usual case of things taking longer than first thought.....

[Mackrick]

As always MF the press is full of information but trying to get something concrete from it is difficult.
Don't think it will fly by end of the month as Snoopy still hasn't done the minimum hours in the air yet.
AFAIK Airbus wish they had never started the project..

[IanM]

What's an A400M????

[Mayfly]

new military transporter Ian

http://www.airbusmilitary.com/

[Spitfire]

I'm glad Ian asked as I didn't know either

[Saracenman]

have a look here too - http://www.iconicaircraft.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=377&start=0&hilit=A400

[Mackrick]

[Saracenman]

funny - that's the first picture that I've seen where the similarities to the C-17 are obvious (excepting the engines of course) - no surprise really

they both smell of poo!

sm

[Wedgy]

I could be OBVIOUS and make a comment at this juncture ..... oh hell, alright then ....

Similarities, as they cannot improve on perfection

[Hunter0f2]

They are having trouble with engine development!!

[Mackrick]

They are having trouble with engine development!!

The trouble is with the FADEC software rather than the engine. Any complex new engine takes along time to develop as does the software control systems.

[Saracenman]

we all know that gov'ts have done crazier things in the past, but isn't A400M too far down the road for cancellation now?

[Mackrick]

Its never to far .

[RLN]

TSR2?

[Saracenman]

well quite - TSR2 was on my mind when i posted!

industry is a lot different now though - with vast investment from several EU nations, it's a lot more difficult to scrap new projects than with one manufacturer, based in one country - aka TSR2...........well i hope it is anyway!

sm

[Hunter0f2]

What type of engines is this aircraft being fitted with ( Hopefully)?????

[Saracenman]

re engines........

have a look here too - http://www.iconicaircraft.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=377&start=0&hilit=A400