France to refit old planes as A400M talks continue

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France to refit old planes as A400M talks continue
Reuters, Friday June 5 2009


PARIS, June 5 (Reuters) - France announced contingency plans on Friday to keep troops in Afghanistan supplied with renovated or chartered planes as talks on rescuing a delayed European troop carrier look set to drag beyond an end-June deadline.
Defence Minister Herve Morin said France backed the Airbus A400M transport plane despite delays which have caused Britain to mull pulling out of Europe's biggest military project, but said a stop-gap was needed to support operations.
France will refurbish some of its 40-year-old C160 Transalls, Morin said in a specialist news briefing.
Other options include bringing forward purchases of aerial refuelling tanker planes that can double as troop transport carriers, renting or buying Lockheed C130J transporters and chartering more time on Russian Antonov planes under a NATO strategic airlift programme called SALIS, he said.
France and Britain are among seven European NATO countries that ordered the A400M in 2003, the region's biggest single cross-border arms procurement contract, worth 20 billion euros ($28.34 billion).
The programme ran into engine development delays, prompting Airbus parent EADS to halt production and call for talks with buyers on revisions to the contract. The buyers agreed to a moratorium until the end of June to discuss the issue, but a deal on the plane's future still looks some way off.
Morin said defence ministers of the countries involved would meet on the sidelines of a NATO meeting on June 12 and again at the end of June.
Officials said another standstill framework was being sought that would allow talks to continue beyond the end-June deadline.
"There will be a new phase of discussion," Morin said.
Engine tests are however going smoothly, he added.
Efforts to find a deal were overshadowed on Friday by the surprise resignation of Britain's defence minister John Hutton in a UK government reshuffle.
"It is clear the A400M is a subject that benefits from continuity. The political aspect is considerable," Morin said.
Separately, sources familiar with the matter said heads of government could get involved and one said French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel could discuss the issue in a meeting in Paris on June 11.
Morin confirmed the talks covered possible penalties for late delivery levied against EADS, though this was "probably not the most difficult subject, at least for the French".
Other issues up for negotiation were revisions in the price, various trigger clauses, industrial risk and delivery dates. (Reporting by Tim Hepher, Matthias Blamont; Editing by Rupert Winchester)

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