In case you do not know, the A400M is the military transport Europe has been trying to put together for a few years now and which has recently managed to get airborne. In body anyway because the future of its spirit is far from assured. Why the military needed a new propeller driven heavy transport when they had Boeing’s C-17 already up and running is something of a puzzle… I guess someone somewhere must have thought a big collaborative project like this would be good for European industry.
Well, they were absolutely right. The A400M project, beset by delays, incredible cost overruns and government meddling on an unprecedented scale, has shown all the weaknesses current European co-operation can master when States set their minds to it. True, this time the scenery was provided by the military but many of the parties involved have a civilian “face” also, so the outcome is of general interest.
The process of selecting an engine for the A400M was a showcase of national government interference, with everyone pushing their own agenda. With the beast being a military asset, European taxpayers will be left to cough up the huge sum of money to cover the cost overruns caused mainly by ineffective program management and clashing individual policies.
One can only hope that the lessons will be taken to heart and measures will be implemented to avoid a repeat performance. But what is the relevance of this all to SESAR, the big European air traffic management improvement project?
Well, plenty in fact. The military is financed from taxpayer money. SESAR, to a very large extent, by money from the airlines. You could say that in both cases certain groups, taxpayers in the former, airspace users in the latter, have entrusted their hard earned cash to others in the hope of getting value for their money. Better tools for the war-fighter, better air traffic management for the airspace users.
The A400M may be a brilliant (if ugly) aircraft but its price tag is horrendous, putting in question the logic of the whole exercise.
SESAR is no less complex and in many ways it will break new ground and push even further in its field of competence than the A400M did in its own. SESAR is just as sensitive to political interference (wherever it may come from), local agendas, backward thinking, poor management, etc. as the A400M. Not to mention the fact that SESAR, like the A400M, is also a European project… Think Mode S, Galileo, A380, A400M to get a list of items why a “European” tag could spell disaster.
Not that it has to. The problem is not being European. The problem comes when certain organizations and people decide that pushing their own agendas is the best way forward for Europe and when there is no effective tool to convince them otherwise.
The task of the SESAR Joint Undertaking is huge and it goes way beyond just managing the program well. They must also avoid building the civilian version of the A400M.