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Modern military aircraft programmes can be long and protracted affairs; requirements change, budgets spiral, months stretch into years and years into decades. Add international partners into the mix and the potential for overruns, delays and even cancellations increases to such a degree that the very future of the project can be put in jeopardy.
The history books are littered with convoluted and drawn-out procurement programmes, but few have been as meandering and prolonged as that of the Airbus Military A400M medium-lift transport aircraft.
Nearly 30 years since it was first conceived by the British, French and German governments as a replacement for their Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules and Transall C-160 transport aircraft, the A400M has recently successfully completed all of its pre-flight contractual milestones and is finally gearing up for its first flight, which is now set for the third quarter of 2008.
With the exception of the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III strategic transport aircraft, today's fleet of military airlifters are nearing the end of their service lives and are struggling in today's operational climate in terms of increasing payload, volume, speed and range requirements.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the air forces of Western Europe, where cuts in national defence budgets and pressures imposed on them by other priorities have meant that military transport capability and capacity has fallen below the levels needed to conduct many of the expeditionary-type operations required by today's military planners.
Of the two types of transport aircraft currently in service with most European states, the C-130 and the C-160, only the C-130 is still in production (in the C-130J variant), but its 50-year-old design makes it unsuitable for the transportation of much of today's hardware, which has grown in size throughout the aircraft's life. Although a great deal of contemporary equipment remains within the C-130's load limits, the relatively narrow fit of its cargo hold means that the Hercules will often 'bulk out' before it 'weighs out'.
The C-17, by contrast, is a modern and highly capable platform, but its high price-tag and lifecycle costs make it prohibitively expensive for all but a few of Europe's larger air forces.
This need to replace its ageing transport fleets with a capable and affordable platform was recognised by Europe and NATO in the early 1980s, when it was referred to as the Future International Military Airlifter (FIMA) and Lockheed Martin was involved for a time. An Outline European Staff Target for a Future Large Aircraft (FLA) was produced and conceptual work undertaken by the European FLA Group (Euroflag) consortium, comprising Aerospatiale, Alenia, British Aerospace, CASA and Daimler Benz Aerospace Airbus. This work eventually resulted in the European Staff Requirement (ESR) for the joint development of a four-turbofan, medium-lift transport aircraft to fulfil Europe's military lift requirements into the 21st century.
Based on this ESR, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and the UK issued a request for proposals (RFP) in September 1997, and it was in response to this RFP that Airbus Military was formed in January 1999 to offer the A400M as a contender to fulfil Europe's airlift requirement.
After Italy's withdrawal from Airbus Military in October 2001, Airbus and OCCAR (Organisation Conjointe de Coop�ration en mati�re d'ARmement), the European defence procurement agency, signed a contract for the development and production of 180 aircraft in May 2003.
Then, in 2005, South Africa and Malaysia joined the programme, ordering eight and four aircraft respectively. In the same year, Chile signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Airbus to purchase three aircraft. Since signing the MoU, however, Chile has deferred its decision on military airlift and is no longer considered to be a customer by Airbus.
Nevertheless, to date, orders for 192 A400Ms have been confirmed, with the last delivery scheduled to take place in 2021. Support activity for the A400M will go on well beyond that, according to Airbus, but full production past that date would depend upon further sales. Typically, such a programme could last up to 40 years.
This baseline number of aircraft is assured as, according to Airbus Military spokesperson Alasdair Reynolds, "the 'commercial approach' under which the A400M contract was drawn up precludes a reduction in the number of orders by any contracting party".
"Not only is the issue of national work-share a consideration, but the fixed-price, fixed-term single contract would mean that a reduction in the number of aircraft by one party would mean that the defaulter would simply end up paying the same amount for fewer aircraft."
Work on the A400M is distributed among eight of the nine customer countries (only Luxembourg is not participating in the workshare scheme). With the programme at such an advanced stage, Reynolds has confirmed to Jane's that the "window of opportunity" for workshare, beyond which the programme timetable would be adversely affected, has passed, and that there are no further opportunities for industrial participation.
821 of 4,007 words
© 2007 Jane's Information Group
http://www.janes.com/news/defence/air/idr/idr071003_1_n.shtml
The history books are littered with convoluted and drawn-out procurement programmes, but few have been as meandering and prolonged as that of the Airbus Military A400M medium-lift transport aircraft.
Nearly 30 years since it was first conceived by the British, French and German governments as a replacement for their Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules and Transall C-160 transport aircraft, the A400M has recently successfully completed all of its pre-flight contractual milestones and is finally gearing up for its first flight, which is now set for the third quarter of 2008.
With the exception of the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III strategic transport aircraft, today's fleet of military airlifters are nearing the end of their service lives and are struggling in today's operational climate in terms of increasing payload, volume, speed and range requirements.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the air forces of Western Europe, where cuts in national defence budgets and pressures imposed on them by other priorities have meant that military transport capability and capacity has fallen below the levels needed to conduct many of the expeditionary-type operations required by today's military planners.
Of the two types of transport aircraft currently in service with most European states, the C-130 and the C-160, only the C-130 is still in production (in the C-130J variant), but its 50-year-old design makes it unsuitable for the transportation of much of today's hardware, which has grown in size throughout the aircraft's life. Although a great deal of contemporary equipment remains within the C-130's load limits, the relatively narrow fit of its cargo hold means that the Hercules will often 'bulk out' before it 'weighs out'.
The C-17, by contrast, is a modern and highly capable platform, but its high price-tag and lifecycle costs make it prohibitively expensive for all but a few of Europe's larger air forces.
This need to replace its ageing transport fleets with a capable and affordable platform was recognised by Europe and NATO in the early 1980s, when it was referred to as the Future International Military Airlifter (FIMA) and Lockheed Martin was involved for a time. An Outline European Staff Target for a Future Large Aircraft (FLA) was produced and conceptual work undertaken by the European FLA Group (Euroflag) consortium, comprising Aerospatiale, Alenia, British Aerospace, CASA and Daimler Benz Aerospace Airbus. This work eventually resulted in the European Staff Requirement (ESR) for the joint development of a four-turbofan, medium-lift transport aircraft to fulfil Europe's military lift requirements into the 21st century.
Based on this ESR, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and the UK issued a request for proposals (RFP) in September 1997, and it was in response to this RFP that Airbus Military was formed in January 1999 to offer the A400M as a contender to fulfil Europe's airlift requirement.
After Italy's withdrawal from Airbus Military in October 2001, Airbus and OCCAR (Organisation Conjointe de Coop�ration en mati�re d'ARmement), the European defence procurement agency, signed a contract for the development and production of 180 aircraft in May 2003.
Then, in 2005, South Africa and Malaysia joined the programme, ordering eight and four aircraft respectively. In the same year, Chile signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Airbus to purchase three aircraft. Since signing the MoU, however, Chile has deferred its decision on military airlift and is no longer considered to be a customer by Airbus.
Nevertheless, to date, orders for 192 A400Ms have been confirmed, with the last delivery scheduled to take place in 2021. Support activity for the A400M will go on well beyond that, according to Airbus, but full production past that date would depend upon further sales. Typically, such a programme could last up to 40 years.
This baseline number of aircraft is assured as, according to Airbus Military spokesperson Alasdair Reynolds, "the 'commercial approach' under which the A400M contract was drawn up precludes a reduction in the number of orders by any contracting party".
"Not only is the issue of national work-share a consideration, but the fixed-price, fixed-term single contract would mean that a reduction in the number of aircraft by one party would mean that the defaulter would simply end up paying the same amount for fewer aircraft."
Work on the A400M is distributed among eight of the nine customer countries (only Luxembourg is not participating in the workshare scheme). With the programme at such an advanced stage, Reynolds has confirmed to Jane's that the "window of opportunity" for workshare, beyond which the programme timetable would be adversely affected, has passed, and that there are no further opportunities for industrial participation.
821 of 4,007 words
© 2007 Jane's Information Group
http://www.janes.com/news/defence/air/idr/idr071003_1_n.shtml
