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France ready to buy US Hercules given Airbus delay: Morin
Paris (AFP) June 5, 2009 France's defence minister said Friday that Hercules C-130J military transport aircraft could be bought from US firm Lockheed Martin given crippling delays in delivery of rival European hardware. "We are examining... the purchase or leasing of the C-130J," Herve Morin said, evoking a series of "gap" measures in the face of years of hold-ups in the 20-billion-euro (27-billion-dollar) European Airbus 400M project. The minister also said he has ordered work to lengthen the service lifespan of existing French military 10 Transall transport planes, saying they could now "go through to 2018." Morin has called a meeting next week in Brussels on the sidelines of a NATO defence ministers gathering so that client countries can conduct a political audit of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) programme. He said it would allow "European will" to take the Airbus plans forward to be tested. Morin added that ministers would draw conclusions at the end of June, having asked Spain to host talks on the issue in southern Seville, following further talks between EADS and client countries. The company is currently negotiating with Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey in a bid to save its order book. Morin said that after another few months of grace, there would be a time "to allow contractual clauses to be re-set." Louis Gallois, chief executive at the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, last month told the weekly magazine L'Express that the end of 2009, "give or take a few weeks," was a realistic target. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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Defense Focus: Pentagon reforms -- Part 8Arlington, Va. (UPI) Jun 4, 2009 One indication of the success of the Globemaster Sustainment Program Performance-Based Logistics is the reduction in Cost per Flight Hour throughout the life of the contract. Boeing has reduced the Cost per Flight Hour by over 10 percent in the last four years and is expected to further reduce it by 9 percent from fiscal year 2009 to fiscal year 2011 in constant fiscal year 2008 dollars ... read more |
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