Der Spiegel is carrying an interview with the CEO of Airbus, translated in English. The interview is from 30 March but they just had it on their english web site. Based on what he is saying (or not saying) I doubt you will see an aircraft by 2012. Part of the problem with the A400M he blames on the contract they signed to develop the aircraft.
SPIEGEL: Germany is threatening to completely withdraw and France is considering reducing its order. It doesn't exactly look like a promising future ...
Enders: Objection! If we can manage to get the program back on course now, the A400M will be a success story. That is what we want -- but not at any price. In any case, we cannot build the plane under the conditions that we've had up to date.
SPIEGEL: Your company is also partly to blame for this development.
Enders: True. EADS should never have signed this contract. Our American competitors would never have accepted such conditions. We've made big mistakes, and errors have also been made on the customer side. We should now rectify these together.
SPIEGEL: What are your demands on the governments? More money? More time?
Enders: We submitted a few proposals back in December. This basically concerns three issues. First, the A400M should be technically and economically organized like any other defense project, where the risks and opportunities are appropriately shared by the customer and the industry. This means, for example, that Airbus will no longer carry the risks alone of engineering the engine, because that is neither our job nor did we want things this way. In all other military programs, the engines are also handled separately.
SPIEGEL: And second?
Enders: Engineering, flight tests and the start of production have to be optimized chronologically in order to minimize the risks of series production. And third, studies need to be conducted to assess whether the A400M, which is designed to be more or less an all-rounder, really has to be able to do everything right from the start. It could save everyone a great deal of time if some of the things this multi-talented aircraft is supposed to be able to do were only introduced step by step.
Interview available at
SPIEGEL Interview with Airbus CEO Thomas Enders: 'EADS Should Never Have Signed the A400M Contract' - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International