Thursday, May 27, 2010

DTN News: Germany Suspends Purchase Of EADS Military Helicopters Over Wiring Faults

DTN News: Germany Suspends Purchase Of EADS Military Helicopters Over Wiring Faults
*Germany has suspended the purchase of €3bn (£2.6bn) worth of EADs military helicopters – which are already five years late – because of wiring faults. Source: DTN News / Telegraph By Amy Wilson (NSI News Source Info) LONDON, U.K. - May 28, 2010: The country ordered 80 Tiger attack helicopters from Eurocopter, a division of EADS, in 1998. Some 67 of those were due to be delivered last year, but so far only 11 have arrived, according to a report by the German ministry of defence. Those which have been delivered have extensive wiring problems and are kitted out to an earlier specification than that ordered by the German government. France ordered 80 Tigers at the same time, in a different model, and has already deployed its version of the helicopter in Afghanistan. The helicopter has "serious defects particularly with its wiring," the defence ministry said, and as a result the first aircraft will not be deployed with Germany's armed forces until November 2011. Eurocopter is the biggest manufacturer of helicopters in the world. "Corrective measures related to wiring problems have been developed, agreed by the customer and are being implemented," a spokesman for Eurocopter said. The company said it will hand over two helicopters which have been through this process to be tested by the German army in the next two months. Further helicopter deliveries are expected by the end of the year. EADS, which is also the parent company of Airbus, has suffered long delays and cost over-runs on its A400M military transport plane because of problems with its engines. The NH-90 helicopter was also delayed.

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