Airbus Military Transporter Cleared For Testing

SLOBODAN LEKIC

BRUSSELS (AP) — The long-delayed prototype of Airbus' first military transport plane has been moved from the factory for final ground tests before its maiden flight next month, a spokeswoman said Friday.

Barbara Kracht said the testing in Seville, Spain, will involve running up problem-plagued turboprop engines to full power, low- and high-speed taxiing, and aborted takeoffs designed to check all aircraft systems before the first flight.

"All this paves the way for the first flight before the end of the year," Kracht said in a telephone interview.

The four-engine A400M, launched in 2003 with an order for a fleet of 180 planes from seven governments, is Europe's most ambitious collaborative defense project ever. But the €20 billion ($29 billion) program has been hit by cost overruns and teething problems with the new Europrop International TP400 engines, and the plane's maiden flight has been postponed repeatedly.

Earlier this year defense ministers from the seven nations — Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey — agreed to re-negotiate the contract on the multinational project.