A400M may earn 250-400 export orders: France

Paris: Striking a positive note ahead of a likely final settlement with EADS over the contentious A400M military transport programme, French defence minister Herve Morin said Monday that the EADS and the seven partner nations that make up the consortium backing the A400M programme estimate that there is a potential export demand of between 250-400 aircraft for the plane.

A400M. Image:Airbus

Morin was speaking at a press conference where he briefed the media about the agreement in principle between  EADS and the seven NATO countries--Germany, France, the U.K., Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg and Turkey--on revised terms for the initial 2003 contract under which the seven partner nations had contracted to purchase 180 planes for euro 20 billion.

This fixed price contract ran into trouble with cost overruns resulting from development problems of a futuristic turbo-prop engine. The aircraft has made its debut flight but EADS served notice to partner nations that it could no longer meet its obligations under the existing contract as it was just not viable and would very likely cause collapse of the company itself. Partner nations have scurried to meet EADs demands, at least part way, and are now scheduled to finalise new terms of agreement by the end of the month.

 Morin said defence ministers from other countries had expressed interest in acquiring the A400M, which can carry heavier loads than the Lockheed-Martin C130J Super Hercules and is more versatile than Boeing's larger C-17 Globemaster III.

Morin also revealed that there is an agreement among the seven governments not to reduce their orders by more than 10 aircraft. He said the UK had already indicated it wants to reduce its order numbers by two or three planes.