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| Europe |
| US suggests Boeing alternative amid A400M transport woes |
| 2008-11-11 |
| Kurt Volker, the US ambassador to NATO, on Tuesday suggested Germany could use a Boeing military transport plane to solve its heavy lift needs instead of the troubled A400M programme. "The American C-17 programme is open to all nations," Volker said in Berlin, referring to Boeing's Globemaster cargo aircraft. European aviation company EADS in September was forced to postpone the maiden flight for the A400M indefinitely due to technical problems. The C-17 can carry double the load than the A400M, but it also costs twice as much as the European plane. However, Volker said "a rather creative way" for Berlin to finance the craft would be for Germany to opt to lease the Boeing planes instead of purchasing them outright. The German military currently is taking part in the NATO programme SALIS (Strategic Air Lift Interim Solution) until the A400M is ready for takeoff. SALIS has two Russian-made Antonov AN 124-100 cargo planes stationed at an airstrip near Leipzig that are ready for use within 72 hours for any of the countries participating in the programme. |
| Posted by:mrp |
| #7 Thank you Valentine for the correction; I don't know what i was thinking, yes the A-330 is the eads tanker bird. (i really knew that, but has a stupid attack.) |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2008-11-11 22:55 |
| #6 The A-400M is a larger scale C-130, it is not the basis for the new tanker that Northrup/EADs proposed that particular tanker was derived from an A-330-200 variant. As far as the A400M goes, on paper and in theory its a sound plane. Getting from paper to actual manufacture and finally flying is the problem, nonetheless for many needs the C-17 actually exceeds greatly the capability of any A-400M and is in service already which makes it an attractive offer. |
| Posted by: Valentine 2008-11-11 21:04 |
| #5 Speaking of old, aren't we coming up on having grandkids fly B-52's their forefathers flew? |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-11-11 19:51 |
| #4 Saw a C5 fly over last Saturday. Actually heard it first. Those engines make a very distinctive sound. Great aircraft, but yes, it is getting old. |
| Posted by: remoteman 2008-11-11 19:29 |
| #3 "In the end i bet US will use A-400 " since it is a basis for the Northrop Grumman EADS USAF tanker proposal, the ideas of commonality will play heavy on the USAF. and you know globalbambi will practically give EADS the deal. BCAC and BMAC are phuqued for the next 4 years. |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2008-11-11 17:10 |
| #2 C-5 old,big. In the end i bet US will use A-400 (it already use tiny italian C-27 which eventually will be the next Gunship) and Euros the C-17. It is the only thing that makes sense. C-130 is too old concept and not big enough for armored vehicles in 20-30t range that will make the bulk of future armies. |
| Posted by: Zebulon Spase1139 2008-11-11 16:50 |
| #1 What ever happened to the C-5's? I lived near Travis Air Force Base when I was a kid and remember going on a school field trip to see one. It looked like a cavern inside the fuselage. They were driving trucks up in it like they were matchbox cars. Probably takes a pretty serious runway to land one though, don't know how many 3rd world dumpholes could manage one. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-11-11 15:39 |