The fate of Airbus Military Company's (AMC) A400M transport remains in the balance after Germany's failure to fund fully its planned 73 aircraft procurement.
Germany has budgeted enough for 40 A400Ms, and the remaining partners - Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and the UK - are not willing to begin development on a promise of further funding at a later date.
An attempt to allocate money in next year's German defence budget was sunk by court action by the country's opposition parties.
As Flight International went to press, AMC and OCCAR, the multi-national procurement agency responsible for managing the programme, had not been told how the problem will be resolved.
The French defence ministry says it will continue working towards a solution "along a schedule that has not been fixed". Reports from Paris indicate that France is not willing to wait until late this year.
Last week's deadline was the latest in a series of final dates. The partners had planned a deal for the Paris air show in June last year.
Source: Flight International
