§ Mr. JenkinTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many A400M's have to be ordered by EU member states for the programme to be cost effective. [25801]
§ Dr. MoonieThe A400M contract signed on 18 December 2001 was for an initial order of 196 aircraft, well above the notional programme viability level of 180 aircraft. An offtake of less than 180 would impact on programme costs, which would clearly need to be considered by partner nations.