PARIS (Dow Jones)--The French government has told Airbus and other contractors working on the A400M multi-role military transport aircraft program that it won't take delivery of the aircraft it has ordered starting in 2013 unless Airbus improves the terms of a maintenance contract for the planes.
The move is seen as an attempt by the French government, struggling to cut public spending and shrink the country's yawning budget gap, to get more attractive pricing from Airbus on the maintenance deal.
The head of the French arms procurement agency DGA, Laurent Collet-Billon, told the defense commission of the National Assembly earlier this month that discussions over the maintenance contract with Airbus and its partners "are difficult, as none of their proposals have met our expectations," according to a transcript of Collet-Billon's testimony before the Defense Commission of the French National Assembly posted on the assembly's website.
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