A400M suffers another holdup
Source: Agencies |
June 20, 2011, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
EUROPE'S delayed and over-budget military transport plane suffered yet another embarrassing setback yesterday when manufacturer Airbus was forced to curtail its debut appearance at the Paris Air Show.
The Airbus A400M military airlifter suffered a gearbox problem in one of its powerful turbo-props days before the world's largest air show and will not now be able to carry out its daring display routine in front of aviation enthusiasts.
Airbus officials said the future European troop plane, which was bailed out with 3.5 billion euros (US$4.96 billion) by purchasing nations last year, was originally going to take part in a flypast today to mark the show's opening but then be placed on static display.
"This is not a problem with safety, but flight test requirements are very demanding at the moment," Airbus Military Chief Executive Domingo Urena-Raso said.
Airbus did not give an estimate for the cost or time involved in fixing the problem. It also did not indicate any change to deliver the first A400M in early 2013.
The A400M has been developed at a cost of more than 20 billion euros for Britain, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey. It is running four years late due to problems in building the West's largest turbo-prop engines and other snags.
Industry sources have said the gearbox problem was not the only recent technical glitch during flight testing.
The Airbus A400M military airlifter suffered a gearbox problem in one of its powerful turbo-props days before the world's largest air show and will not now be able to carry out its daring display routine in front of aviation enthusiasts.
Airbus officials said the future European troop plane, which was bailed out with 3.5 billion euros (US$4.96 billion) by purchasing nations last year, was originally going to take part in a flypast today to mark the show's opening but then be placed on static display.
"This is not a problem with safety, but flight test requirements are very demanding at the moment," Airbus Military Chief Executive Domingo Urena-Raso said.
Airbus did not give an estimate for the cost or time involved in fixing the problem. It also did not indicate any change to deliver the first A400M in early 2013.
The A400M has been developed at a cost of more than 20 billion euros for Britain, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey. It is running four years late due to problems in building the West's largest turbo-prop engines and other snags.
Industry sources have said the gearbox problem was not the only recent technical glitch during flight testing.
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