France sees delay to European military plane

PARIS, Sep 10 (Reuters) France's new defence minister predicted a delay in the A400M airlifter in another blow for planemaker Airbus, and criticised costly projects to build over-sophisticated weapons when cheaper ones would do.

Herve Morin's remarks, in an interview with newspaper La Tribune published today, reflect growing fears that deliveries of the A400M will be hit by a flaw in its turboprop engines.

''There is a slight delay. It will reach our forces several months later than planned,'' Morin, who was appointed in May, told La Tribune.

The same newspaper quoted unidentified sources as saying French procurement agency DGA expected the A400M to enter service as much as six to nine months behind an end-2009 target date.

France is the first customer for the tactical airlifter being developed for seven European nations as well as for export.

It was designed to challenge the dominance of Lockheed's C-130 Hercules, used worldwide to drop troops and cargo into hostile territory.

Airbus has already delayed by three months the start of A400M assembly in Spain as well as next year's maiden flight.

It has not yet announced whether this will translate into delivery delays, which affect the timing of revenue payments to Airbus, already facing a cash squeeze due to civil jet delays.

PROBABLY DELAYS The chief executive of Airbus parent EADS, Louis Gallois, told Reuters last month such delays were ''probable''.

Under pressure to minimise disruption, Airbus has started a detailed review of the A400M programme and is expected to make a final decision on delivery delays before the end of the year.

Industry officials blame a flaw related to the engines, which feature the world's largest aircraft propellers.

Any delays would eat into cashflow and tie up engineering resources needed for other Airbus projects, but are not expected to be on the scale of a two-year setback to the A380 superjumbo.

Faced with pressure on defence budgets, Morin also questioned the value of an air-launched missile called Mica, built by a sister company to Airbus, which can fire backwards.

And he blamed France's failure to export the Rafale multirole combat jet designed by Dassault Aviation on its sophisticated systems.

''When the Americans take the market from under our noses it is often with second-hand F16s,'' he said.

French officials have previously said the Rafale's radar system is not sophisticated enough to win export deals and ordered a redesign from electronics firm Thales.

France is bidding to export the Rafale to Morocco and India amid reports of internal disagreement over the way the Moroccan deal should be financed. Aides to French President Nicolas Sarkozy are trying to resolve the financing issue, Morin said.

Asked about speculation of further defence consolidation, including the future of aerospace and telecoms equipment firm Safran, Morin said he knew of no precise proposals.

REUTERS JT AS1316