It has been a busy year for the Airbus Military A400M program, which has seen the first major components of the European airlifter reach the final assembly site at Seville, Spain, the first run of the TP400-D6 turboprop at Istres, France and–until the beginning of March–the successful achievement of all critical milestones. A three-month delay to the start of final assembly was announced in March, which–unlike Airbus’ A380–will not affect A400M deliveries, due to begin to the French air force at the end of 2009.
The delay will push the first flight back by a few weeks to “sometime in the first quarter” of 2008, but given the troubles affecting the civil side of Airbus’ business, the A400M program seems to have come through relatively unscathed. Officially, Airbus Military says only that it wanted the extra time to review the program and “ensure that subassemblies arrive at Seville in optimum condition.” Unofficially, it has indicated that it wants to look carefully at what it calls “major risk areas” such as the propulsion system and fuselage fitting out.
