Airbus A400M Needs States’ Funding to Continue

Airbus SAS’s A400M military transport, which performed its maiden flight today in Seville, isn’t viable without a “significant contribution” from government customers, the planemaker’s chief executive said.

Airbus Chief Executive Tom Enders said his company’s first military plane and thousands of jobs connected with depend on the governments’ willingness to step up funding. The A400M, which is being assembled in Seville, Spain, is already suffering 2.3 billion euros ($3.4 billion) in cost overruns.

Airbus and government representatives sought to use the maiden flight as a way to overcome a deadlock on negotiations that has put in doubt the future of the 20 billion-euro project. Construction of the A400M is sapping engineers and money from Airbus, while the governments who ordered the plane have few alternatives they can tap for military or humanitarian missions.

‘Significant Contribution’

Airbus parent European Aeronautics, Defence & Space Co. has requested about 5 billion euros in additional funding toward the plane, German Deputy Defense Minister Christian Schmidt said earlier this week.

Sharing the Cost

Abandoning the program outright would leave EADS with about 6 billion euros in upfront payments that it would need to refund. The European partners would be without a modern military transporter to replace decades-old Transall and Hercules models, at a time when Germany, the A400M’s biggest client, and other European countries engage in more military missions abroad.

About Airbus Military's A400M airlifter

is a cost-effective, high-speed turboprop aircraft specifically designed to meet the harmonised needs of European NATO nations, as well as the requirements of international air forces.



The airlifter is designed to replace ageing C-130 Hercules and C-160 Transall fleets currently in service around the world, and features more than twice the payload capacity and volume of these two aircraft.

Powered by four modern turboprop engines driving state-of-the-art eight-bladed propellers, the A400M is capable of cruising speeds of up to Mach 0.72 and altitudes up to 37,000 feet.

The A400M is designed for operations from unprepared runways and has excellent short and soft field performance - enabling it to deliver large amounts of payload to tactical forward bases or to evacuate a full complement of refugees or casualties from remote areas. It can also carry up to 116 paratroopers who can jump out of the aircraft either through the large cargo door or two side doors.

In addition, the A400M is fully equipped to perform air-to-air refuelling, and also can serve as a receiver aircraft to take on fuel while in flight - further extending its operating range.