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Airbus military jet buyers delay cancellation date
Prague (AFP) March 12, 2009 French Defence Minister Herve Morin on Thursday said the seven countries that ordered A400M military jets have agreed they will not pull out of their deals before July 1 despite production delays. "There's an agreement on a three-month moratorium" following an earlier cancellation deadline of April 1, Morin said after meeting his counterparts from Belgium, Britain, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey in Prague. The buyers were previously allowed to back out of their contracts as of April 1 after EADS, the European producer of the aircraft, failed to fulfil its pledge to hold the first flight in January 2008. The seven countries ordered 180 A400M military transport jets between them. Under the decision taken Thursday, the seven will now hold talks with the producer throughout the moratorium to evaluate the programme and its difficulties as well as to discuss potential financial sanctions. "No country will take a decision without consulting the others," Morin said on the sidelines of a meeting of EU defence ministers in Prague. The French daily Le Figaro said last month the A400M, an ambitious European military procurement programme that started in 2003, was facing a three-year delay adding an estimated five billion euros to its price tag. Deliveries had originally been scheduled to begin in 2009, but the first delivery is now planned for 2012 and it is only in 2014 that EADS will be able to deliver significant numbers of the aircraft to clients, Le Figaro said. Germany has ordered 60 planes, France 50, Spain 27, Great Britain 25, Turkey 10, Belgium seven, and Luxembourg is planning to buy one A400M aircraft. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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Singapore firm in running for key India arms contract: report
Singapore (AFP) March 12, 2009A state-linked Singapore firm is bidding for a key contract worth one billion Singapore dollars (650 million US) to supply mobile artillery to the Indian military, a newspaper said Thursday. |
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