Europrop wins A400M engine order
Europrop International - Rolls-Royce Plc (UK), Snecma SA (F), MTU GmbH (D) and Industria de Turbo Propulsores SA (E) - will supply about 900 turboprop engines for the 180 Airbus A400M military transporters. The 3 billion Euro deal is a victory over competing Pratt & Whitney Canada, who looked like the winner until last week, when France and other European governments made clear they would insist on a European solution. France is both a A400M buyer and owner of Snecma.
"We have decided to opt for the European consortium's engine as the best overall solution and due to the substantial price efforts made," said Manfred Bischoff, EADS co-chairman. Europrop was given extra time to match Pratt's offer because of the "strong political dimension" of the contract. The revision is believed to include a 10 - 20% price reduction after Pratt's price was 20% below Europrop's initial offer. As expected, the European engine is said be technically vastly superior to the Canadian design. It will be the most powerful turboprop engine ever produced in the Western world, Airbus said.
While some say the outcome is an act of protectionism, other consider it an important move to safeguard and strengthen the Europen aviation and defence industries after America basically blocks foreign bidders' access to its weapon programs. The A400M will play a central role in Europe's defence strategy, and it is considered a disadvantage to be dependent of a non-European country with key components like propulsion.
The outcome may also be considered a lesson learned from the recent drain of European defence know-how to the United States. In 2002, Germany sold out its leading edge design of hydrogen cell powered submarines and possibly also of main battle tanks to US companies.
