European aerospace company Airbus Military believes that its refund, last month, of South Africa’s initial payments and other costs (plus interest) regarding the A400M programme, from which this country withdrew in 2009, opens the way for the company to bid for other South African Air Force (SAAF) projects. “The Department of Defence (DoD) has other acquisitions in its sights, including maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) and VIP aircraft, and there is also still the requirement for airlift, which hasn’t gone away,” points out Airbus Military spokesperson for Southern Africa Linden Birns.

He confirms that the company is offering its C295 twin-turboprop aircraft for the SAAF’s MPA requirement. “We are talking to the SAAF and the DoD to brief them on the A330 MRTT,” he added. The A330 MRTT (multirole tanker transport) is being proposed by the company as a multirole strategic tanker, transport and VIP aircraft for the SAAF. “The A330 MRTT could incorporate either a fixed VIP section or a modular one which could quite easily be removed if the aircraft needed to be reconfigured to perform other roles, say, as a troop transport in a peacekeeping mission,” he explains.

“When there is clarity about what the South African government wants for airlift, we’ll offer which of our products is most appropriate to meet the identified requirement,” he says. “So far, we’ve heard nothing that would rule out the A400M.”

According to the DoD’s acquisitions and disposals agency, Armscor, Airbus Military refunded €321 050 157.81, or R3 486 924 949.40. It took 18 months to negotiate this refund because, the agency stated in its press release, “this was the first time that Armscor was involved in the termination process of a contract of this magnitude”. “We should furthermore hasten to say that the parties have never questioned the correctness of the decision taken by SA [sic] to terminate [the contract], neither was there any attempt on the part of Airbus to challenge SA in this regard. This was a matter of following the process and the legal requirements involved in the matter.” In its press release concerning the refund, Airbus Military pointed out that South Africa had originally ordered eight A400Ms in a fixed price contract worth €837-million, and that the price of the South African A400Ms was never increased.

South African companies Denel Aerostruc- tures and Aerosud, both based in Gauteng, have been and continue to be responsible for the design, engineering and manufacture of several significant parts of the aircraft. Denel Aerostructures’ components are large primary structures, without which the aircraft cannot fly. These are the top shells for the centre fuselage section and the wing/fuselage fairings. The top shells can be thought of as being equivalent to roof panels. The company is producing two top shells for each aircraft – one in front of and one behind the wing box, which joins the wing to the fuselage. The wing/fuselage fairings are manufactured mainly from composite materials but include aluminium parts. Each such fairing is 15 m long, 7 m wide, and nearly 3 m high.

Aerosud is responsible for the nose fuselage linings, the cargo hold linings, the cockpit linings, the cockpit rigid bulkhead and the nose fuselage galleys. These are classified as secondary structures. But the company is also responsible for the wing tips, which are signifi- cant because they are aerodynamically complex, will contain elements of the aircraft’s defence aids subsystem and will directly influ- ence the aeroplane’s fuel efficiency and thus its carbon emissions. In addition, Cobham South Africa, based in Cape Town, provides the satellite communications antennas and related systems for the aircraft.

“The investments we’ve already made [in South Africa regarding the A400M] are proof of our commitment to the country,” affirms Birns. Meanwhile, the fifth flying prototype of the A400M, designated MSN6, call sign Grizzly 5, made its maiden flight, from Seville, in Spain, on December 20.

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