Award of contracts to begin designing training devices for the Eurofighter EF2000 has been delayed by concerns that the European "superteam" assembled by Thomson Training & Simulation (TTS) will dominate the competition.

TTS confirms that Eurofighter is trying to force the break-up of its team in a bid to increase competition to supply training devices for the EF2000.

Eurofighter consortium member Daimler-Benz Aerospace (Dasa), which is responsible for integrating the EF2000 training system, had been expected to announce in October a shortlist of three contractors which would receive concept-definition studies for the training devices. This is now expected in January 1998.

TTS has assembled a team which consists of Germany's STN Atlas Elektronik, Italy's Meteor, Spain's Indra and Reflectone UK. Other potential bidders include Canada's CAE, through its German and UK subsidiaries, as well as Hughes Training and Lockheed Martin. The US companies are concerned that they will be unable to compete effectively without strong European partners - most of which are tied up in the TTS team.

"Dasa says that we are killing the competition," says TTS chairman Louis Le Portz. The company is unwilling to break up its team, as Le Portz believes that the EF2000 training-device contract will be the "structuring event" for the European simulation industry, leading to consolidation which will enable it to compete with its US rivals.

Source: Flight International