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EADS: USAF can buy 118 A400Ms with savings from C-130, C-5 retirements
By Stephen Trimble
EADS North America has offered a plan for the US Air Force to purchase 118 Airbus A400Ms using savings from retiring most Lockheed Martin C-130Hs and all C-5As.
The EADS proposal was submitted last year to the Air Mobility Command (AMC) upon their request, says Neil F. Smith, director of A400M programme for EADS NA.
The concept proposes to stand-up about eight squadrons of A400Ms within the US mobility force structure, Smith says. "We get a very good reception" at AMC, Smith says.
EADS has been seeking to introduce the A400M in the US market for several years, arguing that the increasing size of ground vehicles has out-grown the box size of Lockheed's C-130. The A400M features a 3.96m (13ft) cabin diameter, versus the C-130 family's 2.74m-wide cargo bay.
The size difference would allow the army to load an armoured Stryker vehicle on the A400M, Smith says.
In response, a Lockheed executive challenged EADS' assumptions about the cost of the A400M, especially with the programme currently in negotiations with European governments over a reportedly $7 billion cost overrun.
"I think that's the ultimate in fuzzy math," says Jim Grant, Lockheed vice president of business development for air mobility and special operations programmes.
Despite the ongoing uncertainty about the programme's financing, EADS plans to continue making a big push in the US market. One of the programme's test aircraft could even travel to the US in early 2011 for a marketing tour, the company says.
EADS NA also believes it will need to partner with a major US prime contractor to be successful with the A400M proposal. The company has already partnered with Northrop to offer the KC-45 tanker and with Lockheed with the AS645 helicopter. EADS also would even consider partnering with Boeing to bring the A400M into the US market, Smith says.
Another concept under review is to bring the Europrop consortium's TP400 engine manufacturing into the US market, as well. Smith noted that Rolls-Royce, a member of the Europrop consortium, has established an engine manufacturing plant in Richmond, Virginia, with extra capacity. That production facility could be used as a domestic source for TP400 production.
http://www.flightglobal.com/article...10254,10255,10256,10257,10349,10829,11394.htm
By Stephen Trimble
EADS North America has offered a plan for the US Air Force to purchase 118 Airbus A400Ms using savings from retiring most Lockheed Martin C-130Hs and all C-5As.
The EADS proposal was submitted last year to the Air Mobility Command (AMC) upon their request, says Neil F. Smith, director of A400M programme for EADS NA.
The concept proposes to stand-up about eight squadrons of A400Ms within the US mobility force structure, Smith says. "We get a very good reception" at AMC, Smith says.
EADS has been seeking to introduce the A400M in the US market for several years, arguing that the increasing size of ground vehicles has out-grown the box size of Lockheed's C-130. The A400M features a 3.96m (13ft) cabin diameter, versus the C-130 family's 2.74m-wide cargo bay.
The size difference would allow the army to load an armoured Stryker vehicle on the A400M, Smith says.
In response, a Lockheed executive challenged EADS' assumptions about the cost of the A400M, especially with the programme currently in negotiations with European governments over a reportedly $7 billion cost overrun.
"I think that's the ultimate in fuzzy math," says Jim Grant, Lockheed vice president of business development for air mobility and special operations programmes.
Despite the ongoing uncertainty about the programme's financing, EADS plans to continue making a big push in the US market. One of the programme's test aircraft could even travel to the US in early 2011 for a marketing tour, the company says.
EADS NA also believes it will need to partner with a major US prime contractor to be successful with the A400M proposal. The company has already partnered with Northrop to offer the KC-45 tanker and with Lockheed with the AS645 helicopter. EADS also would even consider partnering with Boeing to bring the A400M into the US market, Smith says.
Another concept under review is to bring the Europrop consortium's TP400 engine manufacturing into the US market, as well. Smith noted that Rolls-Royce, a member of the Europrop consortium, has established an engine manufacturing plant in Richmond, Virginia, with extra capacity. That production facility could be used as a domestic source for TP400 production.
http://www.flightglobal.com/article...10254,10255,10256,10257,10349,10829,11394.htm