Plane Over 20 Years In The Making

It was a long time coming... but Airbus Military finally has some reason to cheer for its troubled A400M military transport program. The European company conducted the first test flight Wednesday of the TP400-D5 turboprop engine slated to power the airlifter.

The roughly one-hour initial flight tested the engine "to satisfaction," Airbus officials told Reuters.

The test was carried out near Cambridge, England. Somewhat ironically, the powerplant was tested on the wing of a converted Lockheed Martin C-130K... the very aircraft the A400M is slated to compete against.

Built by EPI Europrop International GmbH -- a joint effort between Rolls-Royce and Safran -- the TP400-D5 is the largest turboprop powerplant ever developed by Western nations. Four of the massive engines will power the A400M... an aircraft over 20 years, and $28 billion, in the making.

As ANN has reported, planning for the aircraft began in the mid-1980s, but several technical issues and a fair amount of political backbiting prevented the placement of first orders until 2003. To date, nine countries have signed on for a combined 192 aircraft... but they've faced a number of technical delays and even more excuses from Airbus since then.

Airbus owner EADS announced in September the A400M's first flight had been delayed until sometime in 2009, and attributed the delay to trouble with the engine program. Safran pointedly responded at the time that Airbus already had eight TP400s in their possession, enough to power the first two planes.

Company officials say Airbus will conduct 50 hours of trials before the A400M's first flight, which probably won't occur until the second half of next year. "Once this is achieved and sufficient maturity and satisfactory integration is also reached for the global propulsion system, it will be able to subsequently fly on the A400M," Airbus said.

On Tuesday, EADS announced a massive reorganization of its military activities, giving Airbus greater control over the A400M's development. It also sent a clear message to Airbus officials... that the euro stops with them.

FMI: www.airbusmilitary.com