A €20 billion (£18.3 billion) project to build military transporter aircraft for Nato risks being scrapped next month, EADS, the aerospace group, warned today.

The admission raises the prospect that the group, which also owns Airbus, could be hit by huge fines as demand for aircraft evaporates amid the steep economic downturn.

Louis Gallois, the chief executive of EADS, admitted that 2009 “will be a very difficult year for us�.

EADS warned that the A400M project, which has been plagued by delays of up to four years, could be cancelled altogether if all seven nations supporting it pull out, as they have the right to do, on April 1

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/to...cle5879659.ece

The UK aside none of the other participating Countries have either the cash or the operational need anymore

Spain is broke and is looking at 20% unemployment next year, Turkey has had to go to the IMF, Belguim and luxemborg are at the knackers yard, Germany's economy is imploding and they are expected to bail out the whole Eurozone, South Africa and Malaysia?!, only France will probably stick with it until they hear about the new price and delivery date.

Brinkmanship, who is going to blink first

There is simply no way this project is going to be cancelled and I suspect an under the table deal will be conncocted to make sure it stays intact, some horse trading on delivery dates and costs is inevitable and EADS is going to have to swallow some shite, despite what they say

Originally Posted by meridian

Brinkmanship, who is going to blink first

There is simply no way this project is going to be cancelled and I suspect an under the table deal will be conncocted to make sure it stays intact, some horse trading on delivery dates and costs is inevitable and EADS is going to have to swallow some shite, despite what they say

Not in these economic times old love I bet you fifty quid to Holidays for Heroes that on the 2nd of April at least half the partners have pulled out and its kicked into the long grass for ever.

so that means a few more C-17's and extra C-130j's to fulfil lift requirment then?

good. thats a better option for the UK, (and mybe a few of the C-27j spartans would be a good idea too?)

we are the only people involved who actually need something yesterday so hopefully we will buy American on April the 6th

What will we have instead then? Septic or Ruskie? I can bet Boeing shares are on the rise.

All the Yanks or / and the Ivans have to do is bundle it all up as a PFI and Broon will sign off on it

When this project kicked off EADS made a lot of noise about this being a commercial contract with the usual penalty clauses which would be delivered to time. Hubris indeed. They cannot wriggle out of paying for their inability to deliver, or stop their customers from walking away as per the contract.

Now in the commercial world airliners do run late and suppliers do make deals with customers as a result, so it's not impossible to save this project. However, one suspects that most of the customers will see this as a good excuse to save a few quid. Short sighted maybe, but that's the name of the game these days.

In fact, the only customer who has a problem is the UK. We desperately need airlift and losing the A400 kicks out the central plank of our strategy. I look forward to the usual suspects telling us how we can't put alternatives in place quickly as it's all too difficult, they work very hard and it's not as if there's a war on after all.

You may have seen my previous posts on the A400, I am actually a firm believer and the mantra that more C17's and C130J's kind of misses the point completely.

Have a read here for a reasonable rundown

http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2009/0...ike-the-a400m/


There is also no doubt that the economic climate means that Governments will get a battering if they start cancelling native projects which have a significant job element and buying stuff from overseas which results in zero tax income and zero jobs (which also has of course tax income attached). If they cancel it the people who once contributed now become yet another drain in the form of unemployment benefits.

Anyone who thinks this is about an aircraft are wrong, it politics writ large

We desperately need airlift and losing the A400 kicks out the central plank of our strategy. I look forward to the usual suspects telling us how we can't put alternatives in place quickly as it's all too difficult, they work very hard and it's not as if there's a war on after all.

You're not talking about the RAF per chance? ;)