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Finally. With a year and a half years behind its original schedule, the Airbus A400M military must conduct its first test flight Friday morning. Unless last-minute incident, the aircraft must fly 10 hours to Seville in Spain, where the manufacturer assembles this revolutionary turboprop. The inaugural flight of 3 hours has been entrusted to a team of six people two pilots, one British and one Spanish and French sailors four engineers. His captain Edward Strongman, formerly of the Royal Air Force.

Successful first flight is approved and gives the start of the certification campaign, is crucial for Airbus. "This will prove that it is not a paper airplane," they say in EADS, parent company of Airbus.

The A400M is the ambition of Europe to develop a force projection troops and heavy equipment independently.The A400M should allow Airbus to enter through the front door on the military aircraft market with a very sophisticated device and without competing in the world who could claim a good career for export. Unlike the tanker, which are derivatives of Airbus A 330 existing civilian, the A400M is a military aircraft and 100% brand new.

Three years behind its delivery schedule

Alongside this first flight, a further meeting to be held also on Friday in Seville to prepare a Council of Ministers of the European Defense involved in the program next December 15. For many months, the countries involved since 2003 in the A400M project negotiating with EADS to lay the groundwork for a new contract. This should have been signed on the day of the first flight. But the negotiations are complex.The A400M accused three years behind its original delivery schedule and its costs have drifted dangerously from the initial investment of 20 billion euros. EADS has already provisioned 2.4 billion euros in its accounts, but the extra cost is estimated at 5 billion euros (as far as the A380). This adds about 40% unit price per unit. According to a new timetable yet informal, Airbus should deliver 3 copies in 2013, 4 in 2014 and 7 in 2015 and an average of 4 from 2016.

At the heart of negotiations, the financial burden-sharing, penalties for delays and the type of contract. EADS can only assume all additional costs, or more than 7 billion euros (with stores already spent) for cash of $ 8 billion.Not only Airbus should abandon the program, but he could no longer finance its future long-haul 350, or the renewal of its range of medium-range Type A 320. This, when the reports of deliveries are switched his cash.

France has already indicated it wanted the new contract is consistent with the budget provided under the Act of Military Program (LPM) 2009-2014. "… The orders do not come will be deferred and spread beyond 2020, said recently Laurent Collet-Billon, Delegate General for Armaments.

Taken hostage by the European political

In April that under the leadership of Herv? Morin, Minister of Defense, European countries have agreed an initial moratorium to save the program. Give it up would create an earthquake in Europe by giving a fatal blow to any future "European defense".Britain had threatened to withdraw. Finally in late July, all countries agreed to open negotiations with EADS. The first contract signed in 2003 is outdated. Client countries reaffirm their full commitment to the project. The A400M will see a disclaimer: South Africa, one of the first export customer, waive and cancel its order for 8 units.

In fact, from the outset, the A400M has been hijacked by European politicians. Launched in the 90s, the project is ambitious. It involves building a revolutionary new aircraft to replace its aging fleet of 180 Franco-German Transall and Hercules American half to 40 years average age. Europe wants to regain expertise it is threatened with losing.Therefore, at the highest political level, countries require Airbus to choose a new turboprop engine a sophisticated 11 000 horses, the largest in the Western world developed by a consortium of European engine. States do not want the solution advocated at the time by Noel Forgeard and his teams: buy an existing Canadian engine developed by Pratt Whitney 1 which is 20% cheaper. London and Berlin demanding that their industries are retained. Otherwise, they threaten not to order the aircraft. The A400M should also meet the expectations of many armies, it is "a white elephant." Another incongruity, the contract is a civilian type each number or equipment must be certified not only defense but also by civil aviation – and the price of the program is fixed once and for all late penalties for industrial Contrary to conventional military contracts.Finally, the timetable is extremely tight, 6 years when no military aircraft was developed in less than ten years.

Besides political pressure, EADS has also suffered "pressure" of his own organization. Since its inception, CASA, the Spanish EADS component required to drive the business and military aircraft not to depend only on the parent when logic would have liked them to be linked to Airbus. "The aircraft has been developed by Airbus Military Spaniards who had not the industrial dimension to add a device as complex, and engineering was in Toulouse," said one expert dossier. Louis Welsh, president of EADS, has put a stop to this ineffective organization and Airbus Military has been taken over and placed in orbit Airbus.