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Sarkozy, Merkel agree to delay decision on A400M military plane

Tanker aircraft competition could reopen in July: Gates
The Pentagon could reopen a competition between Boeing and an EADS/Northrop Grumman team to replace the US military's aging fleet of air refueling aircraft as early as next month, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday. Gates told lawmakers he expected to make a final decision within a week or 10 days on "the acquisition authority and the structure we're going to put into place to ensure that it is a fair, open and transparent process." The Pentagon's acquisition team hopes to put out a request for proposal "this summer, perhaps next month," he said. "Our hope is to probably try and get the RFP (request for proposal) out mid-summer." The Pentagon awarded the 35-billion-dollar contract for 179 aircraft to the EADS/Northrop Grumman team in February 2008, but Boeing successfully challenged the decision with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which recommended it be recompeted. "Part of the process I'm going through right now is to try and structure this in a way that puts the best people on this program and that provides a supervisory role," Gates said, adding he would ask his deputy to "take a very close interest in this process." Gates had initially said he expected competition for the politically sensitive contract to be reopened in the spring of 2009, and then in the summer.
by Staff Writers
 Paris (AFP) June 11, 2009
 France and Germany have decided to delay for six months a decision on the future of the problem-plagued Airbus A400M military transport plane, President Nicolas Sarkozy said Thursday.

Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the fate of the plane being built by Airbus, a subsidiary of European aerospace giant EADS, during a meeting at the Elysee presidential palace.

"We talked about the A400M and decided that it would be good to give ourselves a small delay of six months to continue discussions and to find the best possible solution," said Sarkozy at a joint news conference.

The A400M was initially scheduled to start being delivered at the end of 2009 but the programme has suffered from a delay of at least three years and clients have threatened to cancel their orders.

The military transport plane was unveiled last year but it has been hit by delays in building its massive turbo-prop engines, putting the 20-billion-euro (28-billion-dollar) project at risk.

Spain, Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Turkey are participating in the A400M programme.

"We are in full agreement... We will give ourselves a few more months and then we will see," said Merkel, who added that France and Germany "need a transport plane in any case."

French Defence Minister Herve Morin said this month that there would likely be a meeting of ministers from the seven participating countries and EADS to renegotiate the delivery contracts.

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MILPLEX
US probe warns of waste in Iraq, Afghanistan war deals
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