Berlin snubs EADS plea

[allardjd 1,853]

A400 woes and mention of the Eurofighter toward the end of the article...

The A400 looks to be a great design if they can ever drag it kicking and screaming off the

drawing board and out of the debt it is creating by virtue of the delays. It is significantly

heavier (and lifts more) and is somewhat faster than the C-130. The C-130 is the type

which it probably most closely resembles operationally, though obviously is very much more

modern. Its range is much less, but that's how you get to be faster and to lift more. The

A400 fuel burn is much greater than the C-130 and to equal the C-130's un-refuelled range

most of the payload would have to go to fuel. In these days of aerial refueling, range is a

much softer issue anyway, than it was when the Herc was designed.

There's mention in the article of the German government possibly being forced to lease C-17s

until the A400s are delivered. While that may be true, the A400 should not be considered a

competitor of the C-17 - they're quite different animals.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d626ce4a-87fb-11dd-b114-0000779fd18c.html

John

[mutley 4,498]

Interesting, EADS always seem to end up with delayed aircraft and massive write downs :mrhappy:

[Martyn 9]

Interesting, EADS always seem to end up with delayed aircraft and massive write downs :dance2:

As do Boeing and a lot of other manufacturers, unfortunately thats the nature of aircraft development/production

Unfortunately Airbus/EADS seem to be lacking in the PR department! :mrhappy:

[hurricanemk1c 195]

A real shame there

Kieran