Airbus A400M: the first flight took place successfully. And now ?

(BRUSSELS2) The first flight of the A400M - the future European military aircraft - took place without incident on Friday in Seville, in front of an audience of personalities - King Juan Carlos, the Ministers of Defense (Spanish Carme Chacon , the Frenchman Hervé Morin...).

The military plane took off at 10 am very precisely with a European crew (British pilot, Edward "Ed" Strongman, Spanish co-pilot, and 16 French aeronautical engineers: Jean-Philippe Cottet, Eric Isorce, Gérard Leskerpit, Didier Ronceray). A flight of 4 hours 3 exactly with... a successful landing. Most important !

We cannot stress enough the importance of this flight. After dark years and, in full renegotiation of the contract, with its sponsors, Airbus Military breathes a little. Certainly everything remains to be done. And it will still be a long time before we get to the first deliveries. The first planes can only be delivered at the earliest at the end of 2012, or even in 2013 (The French and British (1) will be served first. For the Germans, it will be 2016 instead). But for the first time in several months, there is an air bubble above the A400M. In the short term, the whole question now is to work on the terms of the future: the aircraft delivery schedule, the additional budget required, compensation for delays, the material means of filling the gap between the scheduled date and the final delivery, and the need to keep everyone "on board".

The financial discussion

The additional cost requested by Airbus from the partners would amount to 5,2-5,3 billion euros according to the German and French press. Customers could also have the option of keeping the envelope intact and ordering fewer planes. This would increase the unit cost per plane to around 140 million euros, according to Reuters. The 7 client States have prepared a letter explaining their conditions, a letter which must be sent to Airbus this week, according to Der Spiegel. The objective is to have, according to certain government sources, a revised contract by March 2010.

Keep everyone on board

For the French, as for the Belgian-Luxembourgers, the question does not arise. Germans (2) and Turks have also confirmed their interest, as have the Malaysians. For the British, it is more vague. Because the United Kingdom is suffering more than anyone else from the economic crisis (cuts are to be expected for 2010-2011) and has additional double pressure: 1) budgetary with the interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq (read: more 4 billion £) and 2) financial with the slippage of the pound sterling (the latter has lost 1/3 of its value against the euro and is now almost at par with 1 £ = 1,10 Euros). When you know that part of the costs of the A400M are calculated in euros, there is no need for a drawing!

Export to relaunch?

This first flight also has a great virtue: internationally, it allows the European aircraft manufacturer to set out again to attack new contracts. The moment is probably not welcome, in the midst of a budgetary recession. And the abandonment by South Africa (will it be final?) did not give the right signal. But the Airbus A400M has an advantage: it has no direct competitor in the future. All the solutions proposed (C130J, C17, Casa...) are alternative solutions based on aircraft designed - at the very least - 20 years ago. So, which will eventually be outdated. So far the A400M had a big drawback: we didn't know if it would ever fly. This issue is now resolved. EADS can now go on the attack again. Winning a single export contract would allow the pressure on the partners to be released a little and thus allow the additional invoice to be paid differently. Basically, a profitable solution for everyone.

(NVP)

To watch the flight (enjoy it, it lasts 3 minutes), it's here

(1) The British have planned an ISD no earlier than December 2015 and a financial slippage of £0,5 billion as far as they are concerned.

(2) Full compliance with the contract is enshrined in the coalition agreement. “Beim Rüstungsprojekt A400M besteht die Koalition auf volständiger Erfüllung des Vertrages. Der strategische Lufttransport wird sicher gestellt. »

(Photo credit: Airbus military)