The A400M, a plane that has accumulated delays and additional costs – Les Echos

The program launched in 2003 is still experiencing difficulties. In January, the head of Airbus, Tom Enders, had apologized to English for delays in deliveries.

The accident A400M Saturday in Spain, the first for this device model, is a blow to the program, which has accumulated delays and additional costs, leading the Group Airbus Military Aviation branch to reorganize to change boss earlier this year. Already in 2010, Airbus had almost threw in the towel. Tom Enders, Airbus boss had threatened to abandon the program, launched in 2003, if the seven countries at the origin (Germany, France, Spain, UK, Belgium, Luxembourg and Turkey) did not accept share the additional costs: € 6.2 billion, or 30% of the original budget. The group then questioned the very relevance of this program, the cost exploded and began to experience delays.

If today the very existence of this program n ‘ is not called into question, with 12 already ordered and 174 delivered aircraft, the program is still experiencing difficulties. So much so that in January, Tom Enders had to apologize to the British authorities for delays in deliveries, before announcing a complete reorganization of its subsidiary Airbus Defence and Space. “We are facing delays in deliveries and in the development of military capabilities,” he had said when greeting the press. “It is not a disaster but it is significant enough,” he added ensuring that his group was working “as hard as possible to take corrective action.” In Following was announced the departure of director of that branch military aviation Domingo Ureña Raso, and its replacement by Fernando Alonso, previously in charge of flight testing.

DS Airbus promised “The A400M program will be restructured (…) to allow better efficiency within the DS division and Airbus A400M program to enable the (…) to better respond to current shortcomings.” It had to communicate late February / early March a new delivery schedule, but it is still not known. The group also had to pass a provision of 551 million euros in its 2014 financial statements to account for new delays in the A400M.

Customers angry

The A400M is a device with a complex motor and differing technical applications according to the client countries. The group suffered sharp criticism from them. As in Britain, for instance, which ordered 22 aircraft and waited seven in 2015, and where Tom Enders apologized.

As in Germany too, from the defense minister, Ursula von der Leyen, who stressed in late January in Der Spiegel, there were “more at stake than the single image of an industrial company, it is question of reliability Germany in its alliances “ military. After about four years late, Germany has received in December the first A400M on the 53 it has ordered. According to Der Spiegel, the control by the army of the device has detected “875 breaches,” with missing insulation jackets on some electrical cables or other anecdotal as much mold on the sink.

However this is a “technological marvel” in 2013 assured the Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, when the France took delivery of its first A400M. The A400M “will transform the way military operations are working,” explained to AFP Ian Elliott, then vice president of Airbus Military, as “for the first time, will deliver combat equipment on site. “

Bernhard Gerwert, CEO of DS Airbus, acknowledged ” Default “ highlighting the qualities of the unit, which is already entered into operation. “All the pilots who flew on the A400M tout the performance” of the camera, he has said. Equipped with four turboprop engines, the A400M can carry up to 37 tons on 3300 km, land on unprepared terrain like sand, with on board armored or helicopters.

In total, 174 aircraft have been ordered by eight countries to date. DS provides Airbus have “export prospects who will realize in 2015″.

Source AFP