From today’s Sunday Times:
"June 09, 2002
Rolls pulls in allies to pursue aero deal
by Dominic O’Connell
ROLLS-ROYCE is to set up a pan-European company in an effort to win the £1.2 billion engine contract for the new A400M military transport aircraft.
Euro Prop International (EPI) will bring together Rolls-Royce, MTU and SNECMA, the German and French aero engine manufacturers; and ITP, the Spanish aerospace company in which Rolls-Royce holds a 47% stake.
A Rolls-Royce spokesman said that although the new company had not yet been formed, the partners had already submitted proposals to Airbus, the European aircraft maker that is to build the A400M.
EPI faces stiff competition from the American engine maker Pratt & Whitney, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation. Its Canadian arm is bidding to win the contract and the Canadian government has expressed an interest in buying the A400M. A choice of engine is expected to be made within the next few weeks, and may even be unveiled at the Farnborough air show in July, according to industry sources.
The A400M is an £11.5 billion joint project between Britain, Germany, France, Portugal, Turkey, Belgium, Spain and Luxembourg. It will replace the partner countries’ ageing fleets of transport aircraft and be a cornerstone of the planned European rapid-reaction force.
But the project has been dogged by delays, notably in Germany, where MPs have been unwilling to provide guaranteed funding for the purchase of 73 of the aircraft. Last month, Portugal delayed its signing of the A400M contract.
While most industry sources believe the aircraft will be built eventually, they also expect even more delays. It is now unlikely to enter service before 2011, which could leave the Royal Air Force with a gap in its transport capability in the intervening years.
The Ministry of Defence, which will buy 25 A400Ms, is weighing up a stopgap purchase of 11 Boeing C-17 cargo planes in case the programme slips further. It could also buy more Lockheed C-130Js to augment its fleet."
More C130Js?? What a truly appalling idea……………
And yes, that’s ‘appalling’, not ‘appealing’!