Germany is urging its European partners to enter into discussions over pooling their transport aircraft fleet requirements. This is to cut costs as seven countries gear up for a decision on the possible joint procurement of up to 288 Airbus Military Company A400Ms.
The idea was put forward by German defence minister Rudolf Scharping at a recent informal meeting of NATO defence ministers in Toronto, Canada, and received a "very positive response", according to German Government sources.
"His main aim is to pool the aircraft and find a reasonable European solution for deploying them," says the German ministry of defence.
The German Government, which is trying to achieve significant cuts in defence spending, has yet to decide between acquiring the A400M and a westernised version of the Ukrainian Antonov An-70 known as the An-7X. The UK, France, Italy, Belgium, Spain and Turkey are also looking at the A400M and US products such as the Lockheed Martin C-130J and Boeing C-17.
Industry and military sources say closer co-operation among European nations could open the door to the joint procurement of a fleet of C-17s, considered too costly for acquisition in significant numbers by any single country.
The recent Kosovo conflict highlighted the disparities between the transport capabilities of European NATO members and the USA, whose large fleet of C-17s played a crucial role.
Scharping wants the possibility of a joint European solution to be discussed in parallel with the evaluation of future transport aircraft so that savings from the resulting economies of scale could be realised. However, agreeing a command structure acceptable to all of the countries involved could be a major problem.
Source: Flight International
