LONDON -- A400M Partner nations and industry will meet again Jan. 26 as the two sides continue to try to thrash out a revised funding deal for the delayed military airlifter.

Talks were held in Berlin last week to try to resolve the cash impasse as to how the multibillion euro cost overrun on the Airbus Military A400M program will be handled. Airbus parent EADS is refusing to pick up all of the tab, while the partner nations' public mantra has been to continue to support the program -- though "not at any cost."

Type certification for the A400M is now due at then end of 2011, with a notional entry into service of the end of 2012. Launch of series production is penciled in for the end of 2010, with production ramping up between 2013 and the end of 2016.

The seven partner nations have a total of 180 aircraft on order, though this figure may change should the outcome of the negotiations prove successful. The U.K., for example, has provisionally ordered 25 A400Ms. Given the cost escalation, however, London's eventual number may be between 14 and 19 aircraft.

Germany, the largest customer with 60 on order, has been pushing publicly for EADS to accept the brunt of the cost overruns on the fixed-price program, while senior management from the company has cautioned they would walk away from the program rather than take on punitive costs.

Photo: Mark Wagner