Accuses Consortium Of Hoarding Cash

If EADS hoped to receive a bailout of its own, on the delay-plagued and massively overbudget Airbus Military A400M turboprop... it had better think again.

Reuters reports electronics group Thales ruled out Thursday making any additional financial contributions to the troubled program. Thales -- a partner on the A400M project -- then took the added step of accusing EADS of hoarding cash, even as it begs for new funds from others.

As ANN reported, in January EADS and Airbus Military announced a "new approach" for the oft-delayed A400M military program... telling its partner nations they must join together to "find a way forward" with the trouble-plagued aircraft. Without such help and risk-sharing among A400M partner companies, building the aircraft is "mission impossible," EADS added.

Such rhetoric has not swayed Thales CEO Denis Ranque. When asked whether his company planned to help out the program, he bluntly replied "absolutely not." Ranque then accused EADS of keeping the money it has garnered from customers for the plane.

"EADS has kept all the cash. They are being financed like a military program but we are being financed like a civil program," Ranque said. "We have not received any cash from EADS."

EADS declined to comment on Ranque's statements.

Many of the most recent problems with the A400M -- in development in some form or another for close to 20 years -- stem from the plane's turboshaft engines... and not with the electronic systems designed by Thales. The company took an 80 million Euro hit last year on charges related to the military program; in January, Ranque fired a Thales executive in charge of aerospace programs, largely due to problems with the A400M.

In the current economic climate, the chances of EADS collecting more money from risk-sharing partners seem bleak. In fact, the British parliament has talked of pulling that country's support from the program altogether.

FMI: www.airbusmilitary.com, www.thalesgroup.com