Stewart Penney/LONDON
At last year's Farnborough air show, defence ministers from seven European countries announced a procurement plan for 225 Airbus Military Company (AMC) A400M four-engine military airlifters.
In 1998, Airbus took over the management of the former Future Large Aircraft programme, which until then had been overseen by EUROFLAG. Redesignated the A400M, the programme marks Airbus' first step into the military sector.
The partners in AMC reflect the core A400M customers, and includes Belgian (Belairbus), Italian (Alenia) and Turkish (Tusas Aerospace Industries) participation as well as the four Airbus partners. Luxembourg, despite not having an air force, ordered one aircraft last July.
The A400M will be fitted with an Airbus-type two-crew glass cockpit with sidestick control. The high-wing, 37t-payload freighter will be powered by four TP400 turboprops. This three-shaft 7,450-9,760kW(10,000-13,000shp) engine will be developed and produced by FiatAvio, ITP, MTU, Rolls-Royce, Snecmaand Techspace Aero.
A launch is expected early this year, with contract signing shortly afterwards. First flight is scheduled to follow 51 months later (ie during 2005), with deliveries of a "logistics aircraft" to the UK Royal Air Force 20 months later.
Despite having seven countries committed, the race for a contract is not complete. The thorny issues of workshare and programme leadership must be finalised. The German-registered management company is based in Munich.
Workshare is always a contentious issue, and the A400M is no exception. Germany, committed to 73 A400Ms, is demanding a 33% share of the programme, but German funding for the A400M, announced last November, was DM10 billion ($4.4 billion) - some way short of the DM16.8 billion needed to fund 73 aircraft.
The UK is to buy 25 aircraft, or 11% of the total - which is much less than its traditional 20% share in Airbus programmes. When announcing the UK's intent in May, however, UK defence minister Geoff Hoon underlined the importance of R-R and BAE Systems' wing-design work to the UK. A likely compromise is that while the UK will have the wing design lead, Germany will have more wing production.
Source: Flight International
