Concern for A400M production as France and Spain reduce orders

France and Spain are set to reduce their orders for the A400M aircraft leading to fears that the production line in Germany will face future challenges if new orders cannot be secured. Defence Minister Boris Pistorius explained the reduction during a press conference on the 24th of January as he visited the Airbus manufacturing facility in Bremen that produces the fuselages. The two partner states’ intend not to fulfill their contracts because of budgetary problems, the minister said, adding that nothing has been decided yet. 

However, he followed this by saying that, “there is a very concrete interest from Poland in particular, and we are working on it together.” He did not provide any further details. Observers assume that Poland needs fewer than ten aircraft.

The German government has fulfilled all its commitments to Airbus and will be the largest fleet operator with 53 aircraft, A400M program manager Gerd Weber explained at the press conference. However, short-term export orders are not enough to compensate for the loss of orders from the two European countries, he said.

According to well-informed sources, Spain wants to purchase 10 fewer aircraft and France 13 fewer than originally announced. This would mean that the production lines could be fully utilized for almost four years. According to union circles, production in Bremen is expected to end as early as 2027. In contrast to Pistorius, union representatives have assumed that the decision to reduce deliveries has already been made. A final decision on the end of A400M production is expected to be made as early as March.

A union representative called for development prospects to be drawn up for the Airbus site in Bremen and the other German sites at the press conference, and for the Airbus Group not to be dominated by France. The German government holds 11 percent of the company and has a say in its future. Employee representatives have repeatedly presented concepts for the Bremen site in the past few years, but decisions were then made at the French headquarters. 

Hartpunkt comment

Observers consider it extremely problematic that Spain and France will probably continue to maintain the same share of value added in A400M production despite the expected order cuts. This contradicts common European practice, according to which value added is distributed among the partner countries of an armaments project in proportion to the order volume. Accordingly, final production in Seville should actually be closed and relocated to Bremen.

The problematic development of the A400M is casting a shadow over the other two European prestige projects in the armaments sector: MGCS and FCAS. While only Berlin and Paris are working together on MGCS, Germany is once again in the same boat with both A400M partners on FCAS. Both projects are already extremely slow in the early stages.

This article, written by Lars Hoffmann, was originally published in German by Hartpunkt on 24th January 2025. Hartpunkt and Calibre are collaborating to bring you the best content from across Europe.