News A400 first flight.

[Urwumpe]

But you also don't need to pay bad managers extra money for their failures. That EADS plans to cancel it if the politicians decide to not buy it in the planned numbers because of the failures, look in my eyes like some kind of loss of realism for EADS. The A400 is a big chance to enter a new market, and they badly screwed it. Instead of now doing the best to make the tax payer pay for their failures (what will be essentially the case when EADS cancels the project) these managers should try to sell the existing product as good as possible.

It is there now. It flies. It is the second-most powerful turbo-prop in the world. It has capabilities that neither a C-17 nor a C-130J has. Somebody will sure want to buy this.

 

[Notebook]

I can't see them scrapping this, they have previous history with the Tornado, and even the Euorfighter. i think it'll limp along and enter service quitely, late, and over budget. Quite normal for a defence project...

N.

 

[Urwumpe]

I can't see them scrapping this, they have previous history with the Tornado, and even the Euorfighter. i think it'll limp along and enter service quitely, late, and over budget. Quite normal for a defence project...

N.

Yes, but the Tornado and Eurofighter also had the politicians change the requirements every week. The A400M had a fairly undisturbed development by politics.

 

[Notebook]

Maybe because the A400 had a "parent" company in Airbus, that could fend off politicians?
I can't remember what the Tornado/Eurofighter had, I think it was just a multi-national partneships, with no overall body in charge.

N.

 

[Urwumpe]

I can't remember what the Tornado/Eurofighter had, I think it was just a multi-national partneships, with no overall body in charge.

No, each had a special company to manage the production in the many factories of the aerospace companies behind. Tornado had the Panavia behind it, the Eurofighter Typhoon is done by the Eurofighter GmbH (The German version of the ltd., with much stricter laws and financial requirements) and the EuroJet GmbH ( the engine manufacturer).

 

[Notebook]

I stand corrected, nice to know they have a business entity behind them when you want your money back!

N.

 

[Urwumpe]

I stand corrected, nice to know they have a business entity behind them when you want your money back!

Is just laziness - it is simpler to just found a company and use the existing EU laws than get the political contracts done. Every big multinational program in the EU uses such a company AFAIK.

 

[eveningsky339]

It is there now. It flies. It is the second-most powerful turbo-prop in the world. It has capabilities that neither a C-17 nor a C-130J has. Somebody will sure want to buy this.

I should hope so-- but with cheaper price tags and suitable performance, the older planes may cause some issues for Airbus.

Unfortunately my first impression of this vehicle was not pleasant. I ventured to purchase a payware model for FSX. I accidentally clicked something twice and ended up paying $80 instead of $40... and then the darn thing didn't even work on 64-bit Vista. What a nightmare.

 

[Urwumpe]

Unfortunately my first impression of this vehicle was not pleasant. I ventured to purchase a payware model for FSX. I accidentally clicked something twice and ended up paying $80 instead of $40... and then the darn thing didn't even work on 64-bit Vista. What a nightmare.

LOL, I had a similar experience today. I refueled my car and when getting back from to it, reading the receipt, I noticed that I had a receipt for about 300 liters truck diesel for 330 Euro, instead of the 70 Euro for 48 liters gasoline.

BTW, about capabilities the A400M should have a big advantage over the C130J, despite this being cheaper. The A400M could still carry significant cargo in hot climate or high altitudes. Which was one of the reasons why it was ordered in first place.

 

[Notebook]

BBC link

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8453931.stm

N.

 

[Notebook]

Airbus takes new €1.3bn hit on A400M troop carrier

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43069630

Bit of a wobbly program!

N.

 

[Urwumpe]

We should have bought the An-70. Really. Despite progressing European technology, this is the most expensive turboprop ever.

 

[Notebook]

Looks like its had its share of problems too...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-70#2001_incident_and_later_disputes