EADS have major problems even in this sector........ very bad for business and losing orders.

Wonder when RMAF will get their A400s?

What about our replacements for the aging C-130s?

IIRC, there was an article published recently stated that there is no plan to replace the Charlie in the near future yet. Avionics upgrade and structural strengthening is in the pipeline though...

DECEMBER 11, 2009, 6:20 A.M. ET
2nd UPDATE: Airbus A400M Makes First Flight

SEVILLE, Spain (Dow Jones)--The long-delayed Airbus A400M military airlifter project passed a major milestone Friday when the plane took its maiden flight.

The flight marks a watershed for the EUR20 billion program, whose existence had been put in doubt due to technical hiccups in the aircraft's development that put it more than three years behind schedule, engendering massive penalties and other cost overruns.

The final bill could be as much as 25% above the initial estimate, and Airbus parent European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. NV (EAD.FR) is trying to persuade buyers to shoulder part of the burden. Airbus Chief Operating Officer Fabrice Bregier, in an interview published Friday, said the customers must accept a "significant" increase in unit cost. "It won't be just 3%," he said.

Apart from being a major morale booster for Airbus and its suppliers, the flight should soothe the fears of the seven European air forces that have ordered 180 of the planes and that are renegotiating the original contract with Airbus. "I hope we can conclude the negotiations in the weeks ahead," Airbus Chief Executive Tom Enders told Dow Jones Newswires.

The flight Friday signals the start of a three-year flight testing program, and the first delivery to the French air force is scheduled for 2013. Only four planes will be delivered that year, and production will be ramped up gradually to an annual production rate of 30.

The program will be a loss-maker for EADS, which has said it can't continue on the basis of the original fixed-price terms. EADS already has set aside EUR2.4 billion in provisions against known cost overruns. But the final figure will be much higher, officials say, and will depend on the financial cost that customer governments are prepared to shoulder.

Senior defense ministry officials from customer countries are meeting in Seville Friday to try to hammer out an acceptable deal by year-end. One solution that's been proposed is to spread out deliveries over a longer period, effectively increasing the cost per plane.

The A400M, a four-engined turboprop aircraft, is designed to be the most versatile airlifter available, capable of carrying 37 tons of personnel and equipment--including armored vehicles--to war or disaster zones and landing on rough airfields. The plane can also be used as a flying gas station to provide in-flight refueling for all types of military aircraft, from fast jets to helicopters.

The A400M contract signed in 2003 was flawed from the outset. It was based on a fixed-price system in which the manufacturer was to bear any cost overruns, something unheard of in a military aircraft program, and it set an impossibly short development time.

The design called for a totally new airframe, and the engines had to be designed and built from scratch. Bugs in the highly complex flight management and engine software were chiefly responsible for the long delays.

European air forces have an acute need to replace aging fleets of C160 Transalls and U.S.-made C-130J Hercules transports. Deliveries were supposed to start this year to the French air force, but Airbus won't be delivering the planes in significant numbers until 2014. Air forces will have to find stop-gap solutions such as leasing some smaller C-130s or some much larger Boeing Co. (BA) C-17 Globemasters.

The flight Friday means EADS will receive a check from Occar, the centralized military equipment purchasing organization representing the seven customer governments. EADS already has received more than EUR5 billion in advance payments for the program.

The A400M that flew Friday still had the South African flag on its nose, alongside those of the other customer nations, even though South Africa recently canceled its order for eight aircraft. "We still have hope" of getting the South Africans to change their minds, Enders said. "Maybe the South Africans will be so impressed by the first flight today that they'll realize they made a wrong decision and will come back."

-By David Pearson, Dow Jones Newswires; +33140171740, david.pearson@dowjones.com

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20091211-704166.html

Reposting this in here..

Airbus A400M first flight Vid..

Airbus A400M first flight web-capture

It flies! Airbus' hulking A400M has maiden flight
By EMMA VANDORE (AP) – 1 hour ago

SEVILLE, Spain — The A400M military transport plane that has been causing Airbus and European defense ministers budgetary and logistical headaches finally took to the skies for its maiden flight on Friday.

But even as the hulking gray airlifter took off from the Spanish city of Seville, defense officials are meeting on the sidelines of the event to decide how to continue with the much delayed and over budget project.

Louis Gallois, head of Airbus parent EADS, said he found the takeoff "more moving than I expected. It's enormous. We've been waiting a long time."

He disappeared into the VIP tent — where journalists are not allowed — when asked about cost overruns.

The A400M program was launched six years ago with an order for 180 planes from seven governments — Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey. The project is running at least three years late.

The original price was euro20 billion ($29.46 billion), but a preliminary report by auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers said EADS might need an extra euro5 billion — inflating the final bill by 25 percent, a person familiar with the talks said on condition of anonymity, as he is not authorized to speak to reporters.

Airbus CEO Tom Enders declined to talk about the A400M's funding gap, saying "I am not talking about any sums of money today, we are celebrating the first flight."

"There are ongoing negotiations," he said. "I hope we can conclude them in the weeks ahead."

Enders told The Associated Press that he enjoyed a breakfast of croissants and "very strong coffee" with the six man crew Friday morning to wish the two test pilots and four engineers good luck.

"They were very confident," he said.

Friday's flight is testing basic functions such as the landing gear and the flaps. It marks the beginning of a three-year flight test program.

The 127 ton (140 short tons) plane took off 15 minutes late after a few glitches with the flight instruments, said Fernando Alonso, head of Flight Operations at Airbus. It headed southwest, over the Spanish region of Extremadura.

At a briefing an hour after lift-off, Alonso said that "everything is going fine" and the crew "feel very comfortable with the airplane."

The crew, dressed in orange jump suits, are equipped with parachutes and helmets just in case.

"It's only after they land that we will be able to party," Alonso said.

EADS has asked governments to renegotiate the initial contract, which was agreed along the lines of Airbus' standard fixed price commercial contracts, rather than a risk-sharing military deal.

Enders has slammed the contract agreed by his predecessor, which saddles the European planemaker with most of the costs of delays.

But asking governments to pay more has become difficult at a time when countries' budgets have ballooned as they fight off the worst of the economic crisis.

As well as raising the price, officials could agree to cut the number of planes on order, reduce the specifications, or spread increased payments out over time.

Officials meeting in Seville will try to overcome a deadlock between countries such as France and Britain, whose militaries need the aircraft urgently, and other countries, such as Germany, that have budget concerns.

Ministers are hoping to agree in principle to continue with the project before the end of the year, according to the person familiar with the talks. But the tricky details probably won't be pinned down until the contract signing in late March or early April, the person said.

As well as price, governments need to decide on technical specifications and delivery schedule.

Abandoning the project would cost EADS euro5.7 billion ($8.4 billion) in advance payments it would have to return to governments — and would dent its credibility. It has already has put aside euro2.4 billion in provisions against losses related to the plane.

The A400M is designed to replace Lockheed Martin Corp.'s aging C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft used by the U.S. Air Force as well as the retired C-160 Transall transport aircraft developed by a French and German consortium.

It should almost double its predecessors' cargo capacity and have a range of up to 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers).

South Africa recently pulled out of an order for eight A400Ms, leaving Malaysia as the only export customer.

The flying truck, designed for combat missions in rugged areas like Afghanistan as well as humanitarian missions, took off on Friday with nine flags on its side — the seven nations, Malaysia as well as South Africa.

"Maybe the South Africans will be so impressed by the flight today they ... will come back'," Enders said hopefully.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...b4wJ7wD9CH2BHO0

Malaysia says Airbus A400M delivery to be delayed
2009/11/06


KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s order for four Airbus A400M military planes will proceed but delivery will be delayed by at least three years to 2016, a senior official said Friday.

The European aircraft manufacturer suffered a major blow on Thursday as South Africa cancelled a multi-billion dollar contract to buy eight of the aircraft because of delays and a huge cost rise.

South Africa and Malaysia were the only two non-European orders for the A400M. Malaysia placed its order in 2005 for the four planes originally due to be delivered in 2013.

“There is no cancellation, the deal is still on but delivery will be delayed by three or four years,” a senior defence ministry official told AFP.

“The delay is due to the delivery issue, it is not our problem. It is our commitment to boost our existing fleet,” added the official, who declined to be named.

Details on how much Malaysia would pay for the planes were not revealed at the time, and the defence official could not specify the cost on Friday.


The A400M has been bedevilled by cost overruns and delivery delays over its massive turbo-prop engines. The entire 20-billion-euro (28-billion-dollar) project was put in doubt at one point.

The first planes were to have been delivered at the end of this year, but the programme is running at least three years late.

In cancelling the order on Thursday, South African government spokesman Themba Maseko said “the cost escalation would have placed an unaffordable burden on the taxpayer” in an economic downturn.

He said the cost skyrocketed from 1.2 billion dollars when the contract for the A400M was agreed five years ago to 6.1 billion dollars now.

A total of 180 of the aircraft have been ordered by seven NATO nations: 60 for Germany; 50 for France; 27 for Spain; 25 for Britain; 10 for Turkey; seven for Belgium and one for Luxembourg.

In July, seven European countries agreed to renegotiate their contract to buy the aircraft by the end of the year, thereby providing a lifeline. -- AFP

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/art...115632/Article/

can someone help me understand what is so difficult to build a transport plane such as this that is causing so much delay and over runs?

Bureaucratic red tapes and management screw ups especially when you have 8 different nations working on it. I say they should just scrape the darn thing.

yes I was wondering what could be so technologically challenging in building a transport aircraft.

If everything goes to plan, we'll only see it during the LIMA 2017, ten years after this thread was first created in 2007.

2017?? Damn, I feel so old.. But nevermind, shall stare at boobs more often, so can stay youthful & live longer.. hehe.. :P

Another video (longer video) of the A400M first flight..

watch here: Airbus A400M First Flight 11.12.2009

2017 we already at 4G SAF loh. BTW how come the A400M fly with the under carriage deployed? they don't have faith even in a working under carriage!?

First flights are usually done like that, even the F-35's first few flights were done with landing gear down. Let's not make mountains out of molehills.

haha ok I just thought it funny they have this flying video with inspiring music then having the landing gears sticking out :P

I hope that I'll be able to take photos of the Airbus A400M in 2017.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/...akes-skies.html

by then your DSLR is likely to have 60 mega pix full frame and 20fps with 135 pt cross-type AF ;@)

its an aircraft making its first flight. the undercarriage is down as a precaution against aircraft system failure. better to land with the wheels down and save the aircraft than land wheels up and losing the aircraft and perphaps crew in the process..

the crew was flying with chutes, by the way.

well, the crew will try everything in their power until the last minute to save the aircraft. by this time, it would be too late. even if they managed to jump out of the aircraft at the last minute, i dont think their chutes will have enough time to fully deploy.

cheers!

I don't know what will be the DSLR technology in 2017.

Maybe we'll have this conversation again in the year 2017 if we're still on this earth. :unsure:

Official website.

http://www.a400m.com/

Looking at the cargo hold.

http://www.airbusmilitary.com/Capabilities...CargoHoldAnchor

If RSAF gets it, we're able to airlift the Superpuma or 2 Terrex and also the ability for midair refueling.

what's the max payload? seems to be up to high 30+ which would be less than two Terrex.

The website shows that it can take two Stryker.

If I recall correctly (pls correct me if I'm wrong), our former RSAF chief who just stepped down a few days ago, once mentioned that the RSAF are not considering to buy any C-17s in response to Boeing's marketing team listing Singapore as a potential customer for the C-17s & adding on that there are no plans to replace the upgraded C-130B/Hs as yet..

Kinda sad huh, we get new fighters (plus exploring the F-35 program), new choppers, new AEWCs, new ADA missile systems, new UAVs but still no hint of new transport airlifters coming up.. :(

We'll need the Airbus A400M with the new equipment bought by the SAF.

Hmm the graphic seems to show that it can only be converted to a probe-and-drogue tanker, not a boom tanker. However, by 2017 our air force would be starting to convert entirely to fighters that only take booms (F-15,F-16,F-35). So the A400M might not fit all our needs.

Btw, how old are our KC-135s?

P.S. the probe on the front of the A400M is pretty distinctive. Maybe it should be named the Narwhal... or the Ultra-fat Unicorn

If I remember correctly, our KC-135Rs are actually refurbished KC-135As.. So my guess is the airframe is very old..

Can the A400M lift our Leopards??

The Royal Air Force will have both the A400Ms (to replace their C-130s) & the C-17ERs (currently in service) in their inventory..

Says here that max payload of A400M is 37 tons...http://www.airbusmilitary.com/Specifications.aspx

this kind of marketing can be misleading, it could mean two completely empty strykers. remember when they were first chosen, they were said to be C130 portable, IF the tyres were flat!

so, only one Terrex, and maybe not even two Broncos.

Hmmmm, so it can't carry the Leopards.. <_<

if we want to lift an L2, or 2×BX or 2×TX we'll have to get the Globemaster III. however that should be quite alarming to our neighbours I think, unless we can convince them we needed them to lift the L2 to and from from SWBTA.

IMHO, it's now more of a need than a want, based on current & future assets.. Besides, although we are called a tiny red dot, we are an independent state.. We should have the right to choose based on assessment by RSAF/DSTA right??

I personally think we need a small fleet of C17 given the number of far flung trainings we have, and a lot of those places are no where near a main harbour. you should have seen the early days of Ex Wallaby/Wallaroo. We actually convoy the M113s from Brisbane to Rockhampton.

However there is always this thing called sensitivity, which is why we never had those hundred plus tua hong tanks for more than 25 years. :ph43r:

I do note about sensitivity.. But do neighbours do the same in return?? Just like Ex Malindo in 1991??

If we gonna buy C-17s, have to order fast before the assembly line close down..