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EVENT: Five European aircraft firms are to form a new consortium to study prospects for a military transport plane.
SIGNIFICANCE: This decision represents another attempt by European aerospace firms to seize the initiative in military aerospace.
ANALYSIS: Although the programme will be open to US participation, it will be a setback to Lockheed which was involved in an earlier grouping. However, US firms in general are looking towards European collaboration to compensate for falling domestic demand and to establish a presence inside the European defence market.
The Europeans are seeking to fulfil an outstanding NATO requirement and have taken advantage of a failure to reach agreement on a common specification to make a bid for leadership of the international programme. The consortium, to be known as Euroflag, replaces the previous accord, known as Future International Military Airlifter (FIMA), which had included Lockheed. Euroflag comprises the Airbus Industrie members, Aerospatiale, British Aerospace, MBB and CASA, and the Italian firm of Aeritalia.
The programme would aim to replace 1,400 Lockheed C130 Hercules and Aerospatiale/MBB Transall aircraft currently in...