The seven European nations participating in the Airbus A400M program have signed a contract amendment allowing production of the military airlifter to begin, prime contractor Airbus announced yesterday.
The deal follows severe financial and technical problems on the program, developed by the EADS subsidiary for customer nations Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey.
The contract amendment was signed yesterday in Seville. National armament directors and other representatives from customer nations attended the ceremony, according to a statement released by EADS.
The amendment implements changes agreed in principle by the participating nations with EADS on March 5.
“From an industrial point of view, the program is on track,” said Domingo Urena, Airbus Military CEO. “We are also very satisfied with the progress of the Flight Test program, which confirms day by day the soundness of the aircraft.”
With four aircraft flying, the A400M has achieved over 1,400 test flight hours and close to 450 flights, according to EADS. The fifth aircraft is complete and has started the final control phase prior to a first flight in early fall.
Civil certification is expected before the end of the year, and first delivery to the French air force is expected in late 2012 or early 2013, EADS said. Airbus has 174 firm orders from eight nations–170 for the seven aforementioned nations, plus four for Malaysia.