No wonder people talk about the A400M as a nightmare

Can elephants fly?

asks Celestine Bohlen.

That’s one way of looking at the Airbus A400M military transport plane, which a group of mostly European nations has been trying to get off the ground since 2003.

Time and money are running out on the project, and the four-engine turboprop, designed to ferry troops and equipment, still hasn’t even had a test flight.

After a delay of almost four years, and cost overruns that are digging into profits, European Aeronautic Defense & Space must be starting to wonder whether it should pull the plug on this €20 billion, or $28 billion, project, and let its customers buy American.

With 6,000 jobs at stake, this would cause economic pain and howls of political protests. European pride would be wounded, and the reputation of the region’s defense industry would be badly damaged.

…Politics have plagued the project from the start. Early on, EADS was forced to pick a group of European companies, including Rolls-Royce Group of Britain, to make the plane’s engine, instead of the American manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, whose price was better.

The project has become a kind of Christmas tree, with the different governments trying to add on special features, such as low-flying or all-weather capability. The result is a product that looks more like a camel than a racehorse, according to Bernard Jenkin, a Conservative member of the British Parliament who sits on the House of Commons defense committee.

“We should dump it,” he said. “It was always a political airplane.”

…Before they start throwing more good money after bad, the governments involved should think about their priorities. As a top adviser to President Nicolas Sarkozy of France said this week: “All we want is a plane that works.”