A400M Production To Begin; Revised Deal Still Awaits Approval

LONDON - Airbus Military has launched series production of the A400M even though two of the partner nations have not signed off on a revised deal to build the airlifter.

Airbus said the first four A400Ms are scheduled for delivery in 2012 with production being ramped up to 2.5 a month by the end of 2015. (Lionel Bonaventure / AFP)

Reporting its results for 2010, EADS, Airbus Military's parent company, said the final details on the export levy facility still had to be resolved with Britain and Turkey, but that it had approved the start of production.

The export levy is part of a multibillion euro rescue package agreed to last November by the seven nations collaborating on the much-delayed A400M program. The levy would provide funds up front for the program in exchange for the payment of royalties on exports. In a statement announcing its results, EADS said that "following the approval of the program in France and Germany, negotiations on the export levy facility scheme are to be finalized with some customer nations and are targeted for completion this year."
A spokeswomen for Airbus Military said the agreement with Britain and Turkey was "on the verge of being finalized, it is not an issue."
Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey have been involved in developing and building the A400M since 2003. Including an export order for Malaysia, Airbus holds orders for 174 of the aircraft being built at the company's factory in Seville, Spain.
Airbus said the first four aircraft are scheduled for delivery in 2012 with production being ramped up to 2.5 machines a month by the end of 2015.
Civil certification is due this year and Airbus said in a statement it expected to hand over the first A400M to the French Air Force by early 2013.
Airbus Military reported increased revenues last year of 2.68 billion euros ($3.74 billion) compared with 2.23 billion euros the previous year. The military arm of the civil airliner business also delivers A330 MRTT tanker aircraft as well as the smaller C212, CN235 and C295 airlifters.
Earlier this month, the company lost a huge deal to equip the U.S. Air Force with a new tanker when it was beaten to the post by Boeing.

U.S. Navy Pauses to Correct Aircraft Launch System

The new Electronic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) under development for the U.S. Navy took a "pause" to correct problems that appeared after the first test launch in December, a top Navy official said March 9.
The Navy conducted its first test launch of the system using a real aircraft, rather than a test load, on Dec. 21 at its catapult testing facility in Lakehurst, N.J. But no further flights have been made since the successful launch of an F/A-18E Super Hornet.

The problem, said Sean Stackley, the Navy's top acquisition official, was a "gap" between the motors as the system worked to accelerate the aircraft to launch speed.
The EMALS consists of a number of linear motors in series, Stackley explained. "In the handoff from motor to motor, as the aircraft is accelerating, there is a gap. That needs to be tuned."
The Navy and contractor General Atomics have been working on the system's software to cure the problem, Stackley said.
"We took a pause, we're coming back with corrections, and coming back with a system functional demonstration this month," he said during a hearing of the Seapower and Projection Forces subcommittee of House Armed Services Committee.
Stackley made his remarks in response to a question by new chairman Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., about the system's progress.
The EMALS is a key element in the design and operation of the Navy's newest aircraft carrier, the Gerald R. Ford. The ship is about 20 percent complete, according to testimony presented earlier March 9 by Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, and the system is "on schedule to support delivery" of the carrier in September 2015.
The EMALS program has suffered numerous delays during its development, however, and is reported to have nearly exhausted the margin of error to deliver components on time to shipbuilder Northrop Grumman Newport News so they can be installed on the carrier. Further EMALS delays, one source said, could begin to impact the carrier's building schedule and threaten cost increases.
Along with the associated Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) aircraft recovery system, EMALS is expected to increase the pace of launch and recovery operations on the carrier by 25 percent.
"We are carefully watching components delivered to Newport News," Stackley said. "I think the risk is acceptable, absolutely."

Sweden Halts Arms Deliveries to Two Mideast States: Official

STOCKHOLM - Sweden has halted weapons deliveries to two countries in the Middle East and North Africa due to the unrest sweeping the region, the head of a government agency said March 9, refusing to name the countries in question.
"We have withdrawn licenses (for weapons exports) to two countries ... due to the situation in the region," Andreas Ekman Duse, the head of the Swedish Agency for Non-Proliferation and Export Controls (ISP), told AFP.

"We cannot say which countries, due to commercial and diplomatic classified information," he said.
His agency, which controls Sweden's exports of military equipment, would closely watch the situation, and the licenses could be restored "if the development in these countries goes in a democratic direction," he said, adding "when that will happen I cannot say."
ISP meanwhile also announced March 9 that Sweden last year saw its military equipment exports rise 1 percent to 13.7 billion kronor (1.55 billion euros, $2.16 billion).
Around 70 percent of that went to the European Union, the United States and South Africa, with the number boosted by a larger order of 90 tanks to the Netherlands and Sweden's ongoing deliveries of JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets to South Africa.
Another 20-some countries accounted for the remainder of exports, and the Scandinavian country for instance raked in 804 million kronor from weapons sales to the United Arab Emirates and 246 million kronor from sales to Saudi Arabia, ISP said in a statement.

Indian AF to Buy 64 Indigenous Combat Helos

NEW DELHI - The Indian Air Force will buy 65 Light Combat Helicopters (LCH) from state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) for about $1.4 billion.
Under development since 2006, the LCH has undergone several test flights, and deliveries are scheduled by 2013-2014.

The LCH is a two-engine, 5.5-ton helicopter and will carry air-to-air missiles, 20mm guns, unguided rockets and cluster bombs, grenade launchers and anti-radiation missiles. It will be used to kill UAVs and slow-moving aircraft, escort troop-carrying copters on special operations, destroy enemy air defenses, fight in urban environments, and blow up tanks and other vehicles.
An Air Force official said the weight of the LCH has been reduced, although he declined to detail the service requirement. The total demand for the helos by the Air Force and Army is 179.
The LCH will also be capable of high-altitude warfare since its operational ceiling will be 16,000 to 18,000 feet. The LCH is not a derivative of the homegrown Advanced Light Helicopter although it uses the same transmission and rotor systems.
The helicopter will be equipped with missile warning systems, anti-missile countermeasures and night attack-capable cockpit displays. Its narrow fuselage will be stealthy, and its landing gear will be built to handle hard landings.
The LCH carries a homegrown gyro-stabilized sighting system comprising a high-performance thermal imager and laser rangefinder with a four-kilometer detection range.
The helicopter also will be armed with the Helina missile, a Nag derivative, with an extended range of seven kilometers to augment its air-to-ground capability.
The Air Force is operating at just 74 percent of its helicopter requirements, as most of its helicopter fleet have reached their life expectancy, an Air Force officer said.

Finmeccanica Seeks Partnership with Turkish Group

ANKARA - Italian defense giant Finmeccanica, the largest company operating in Turkey's defense and aerospace industries, is seeking a partnership model to join forces with an umbrella group that houses several Turkish top defense manufacturers, a senior official from the Italian company said.

Finmeccanica's strategic objective in the Turkish market is to reach a global agreement with the Turkish Armed Forces Foundation, Paolo Pozzessere, Finmeccanica's commercial director, said March 7.

"We cannot fail to dedicate special attention to this group, which is very similar to our own," Pozzessere said. "Today, we are looking to focus on defense electronics, where we regard Turkish companies, particularly those of the Turkish Armed Forces Foundation, are our main partners."
Pozzessere said that Finmeccanica's main objective is to maintain its current position in the Turkish market and use its potential to increase penetration into countries in the region.
The Turkish Armed Forces Foundation owns majority stakes in the country's top defense companies, including military electronics firm Aselsan, software company Havelsan and rocket manufacturer Roketsan. These three are among Turkey's five biggest defense companies.
Finmeccanica opened a Turkish office here in November. Finmeccanica subsidiaries, including AgustaWestland and Telespazio, already have grabbed Turkish contracts worth billions of dollars in total for attack helicopters and for Turkey's first military satellite. On Nov. 8, the company and Turkey's procurement office signed a nearly 150 million euro (nearly $210 million) contract for the company's urgent production of nine T129 attack helicopters for the Turkish Army.
Turkey already has a separate, multibillion-dollar contract with AgustaWestland for joint manufacture of 51 T129 attack helicopters, a Turkish version of the company's A129.
Finmeccanica S.p.A. is the second-largest industrial group and the largest of the high-tech industrial groups based in Italy. It works in the fields of defense, aerospace, security, transport and energy. It is partially owned by the Italian government, with the Treasury holding about 30 percent of Finmeccanica's shares.
"In the short and medium term, for example, Turkey already has or will soon have requirements for passenger and military air transport and latest-generation trainer aircraft, for which Finmeccanica Group companies offer themselves as partners for national companies," Pozzessere said.

New Egyptian Government Sworn In

CAIRO - Ministers of Egypt's new government were sworn in on March 7 by the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, at a ceremony in the capital Cairo.

Prime Minister Essam Sharaf's government includes six new ministers including Foreign Minister Nabil al-Arabi, Oil Minister Abdullah Ghorab and those of interior, culture, justice and labour.

Sharaf, appointed on March 3 after protests against the presence of associates of Hosni Mubarak in the caretaker government running affairs since the former president's departure, has vowed to work for a democratic system.
Arabi, a former ambassador to the United Nations, was named as foreign minister on March 6. The 75-year-old replaced Ahmed Abul Gheit, who had been in the job since 2004.
New premier Sharaf addressed thousands of protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday and was received with raucous cheers of support.
Sharaf was appointed after the unexpected resignation of Ahmed Shafiq, sparking celebrations from protesters demanding a purge of the remnants of Mubarak's regime.
Strongman Mubarak appointed Shafiq in the dying days of his rule in a bid to quell the protests, and Shafiq stayed on as head of the caretaker government.
The activists had put forward Sharaf's name during talks with the military eight days ago during which they also called for rapid, profound changes towards democracy.
A popular referendum on constitutional changes in Egypt has been set for March 19, an army source told AFP on March 4.
After Mubarak stepped down on Feb. 11, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces formed a committee to pilot constitutional changes, headed by respected scholar Tarek al-Bishri, which proposed to limit presidential terms to two and reduce them to four years.
Under the suspended constitution, a president can serve an unlimited number of six-year terms.

Daimler, Rolls-Royce Mulling Tognum Takeover

FRANKFURT - German automaker Daimler and Rolls-Royce are in "constructive discussions" concerning a takeover of Tognum, a German manufacturer of motors and turbines, Daimler and Rolls-Royce said March 7.

The two groups are interested in "acquiring the majority of Tognum in equal shares," a statement said, confirming a report by Manager Magazin.

The statement added that "no final decisions on increasing the equity interest have been made."
Tognum is based in Friedrichshafen, southern Germany.
Daimler, also the world's biggest heavy truck maker, already owns 28 percent of Tognum, a major supplier of Daimler's engines.
Tognum shares soared 21.27 percent to 22.44 euros in midday trading on the Frankfurt stock exchange while the MDax index on which they are listed was 0.84 percent higher overall.
Daimler shares showed a gain of 1.44 percent to 48.93 euros while the main market DAX index was 0.74 percent higher overall.
Tognum also builds motors for armored vehicles and boats and posted sales of 2.5 billion euros ($3.5 billion) in 2009, a level it expected to reach again in 2010.