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Airbus military transporter celebrates first test flight
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 11 - 12 - 2009


The Airbus A400M military transport plane
completed a successful first test flight Friday in the Spanish city
of Seville, nearly two years later than planned, according to dpa.
However, the euphoria produced by the aircraft"s flawless maiden
flight was mitigated by the admission by Airbus that the plane will
cost significantly more than had been foreseen and by demands from
the seven governments financing the project about a fair partition of
the cost overrun.
Originally scheduled for the beginning of 2008, the 3 hour 47
minute flight marked a milestone in the development of the new multi-
function airlifter, which is being built to replace aging fleets of
C-130 Hercules and C-160 Transalls in service around the world.
Spanish pilot Ignacio Lombo said the flight had allowed him and
his co-pilot to "appreciate the big potential of this magnificent
machine."
Spain"s King Juan Carlos urged European governments and the
industry to seal a final agreement that would turn the A400M program
into a "total success."
The king, who witnessed the maiden flight, said the A400M brought
European armed forces "capacities that no other plane offers at a
time when Europe"s international engagements call for it."
Among the 3,000 spectators on hand to witness the flight were
government officials from the seven countries who are financing the
A400M. They will use the event to discuss the repercussions of the
delays on the project.
The countries are France, Germany, Britain, Spain, Belgium,
Luxembourg and Turkey. The A400M that took off Friday was piloted by
a Spaniard and a Briton and carried four French flight engineers.
The officials will be sending a letter to Airbus"s parent company
EADS demanding direct top-level negotiations regarding the entire
project.
"We expect an answer by December 31," said the German state
secretary for defence Ruediger Wolf. "We have contracts. We do not
want anything from EADS. Rather, EADS wants something from us. With
the letter, we are putting the responsibility where it belongs."
"It is clear that we need a military transport plane," said German
Chancellor Angela Merkel. "It is also clear that we know how
important it is that Airbus succeeds. It is good that the plane has
finally taken off. We"ve waited a long time for that."
The A400M is the largest-ever European defence project and is more
than three years behind schedule. It now seems likely that it will
cost about 8 billion euros (11.8 billion dollars) more than the 20
billion euros originally earmarked for it.
Some 40,000 jobs depend on the project, 8,000 at Airbus alone.
In an interview published Friday in the financial daily La
Tribune, Airbus chief operating officer Fabrice Bregier urged the
participating governments to accept a large price increase for the
aircraft.
"It will not be a price increase on the order of 3 per cent; it
will be significant," Bregier said.
The A400M has been designed to refuel helicopters and fighter-jets
in the air and to rapidly transport cargo weighing up to 37 tons as
far as 8,700 kilometres.
The full-fledged version of the A400M is not expected to be
delivered to clients before 2015.


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