Euroflag was a collaboration of European aerospace companies formed for the development of the Future Large Aircraft project which was eventually to result in the

Airbus A400M Atlas The Airbus A400M AtlasNamed after the Greek mythological figure. is a European four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft. It was designed by Airbus Military, now Airbus Defence and Space, as a tactical airlifter with strategic capa ...

. Development eventually moved under the stewardship of

Airbus Defence and Space Airbus Defence and Space is a division of Airbus SE. Formed in 2014 in the restructuring of European Aeronautic Defence and Space (EADS), Airbus SE comprises the former Airbus Military, Astrium, and divisions. Contributing 21% of Airbus reven ...

History

Origins

The project began as the Future International Military Airlifter (FIMA) group. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was set up on 16 December 1982 by France's

Aérospatiale Aérospatiale () was a major French state-owned aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and arms industry, defence corporation. It was founded in 1970 as () through the merger of three established state-owned companies: Sud Aviation, Nord Aviation ...

British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft manufacturer, aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer that was formed in 1977. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. ...

, Lockheed of the United States, and

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB) was a West Germany, West German aerospace manufacturer. It was formed during the late 1960s as the result of efforts to consolidate the West German aerospace industry; aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt AG merged ...

to develop a replacement for the

C-130 Hercules The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 w ...

and C-160 Transall. Varying requirements and the complications of international politics caused slow progress. A new FIMA agreement was created with the four original participants and new members

Aeritalia Aeritalia was an aerospace engineering corporation based in Italy. It was formed out of the merger of two aviation companies, Fiat Aviazione and Aerfer, in 1969. Aeritalia continued several programs of its preceding companies, perhaps most pr ...

(predecessor of Italy's

Alenia Aeronautica Alenia Aeronautica was an Italian aerospace company. Its subsidiary, subsidiaries included Aermacchi, Alenia Aermacchi and Alenia Aeronavali. Alenia Aeronautica was also the part-owner of ATR (aircraft manufacturer), ATR, a joint venture with E ...

) and Spain's

Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA) was a Spanish aircraft manufacturer that was founded in 1923 and began manufacturing aircraft the following year. In 1999 it became a subsidiary of the EADS (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company) u ...

(CASA) on 3 December 1987, which was the expiration date of the original FIMA agreement. By May 1989, Lockheed was deep into the planning of a second-generation C-130 that would become a competitor to a FIMA aircraft (the C-130J Super Hercules) despite having invested over US$60 million in FIMA-related studies. On 6 June 1989, Aérospatiale announced that the five European members had formed Euroflag to replace FIMA, and that Lockheed was no longer a participant to create the new military transport because the other members did not want to commit to a specific American partner yet.

Formation

In July 1991, with the addition of

, CASA, OGMA, and TAI of Turkey, the Future International Military Airlifter group became Euroflag, European future large aircraft group. a joint-venture company based in Rome.

Succession

1995 saw the FLA military transport project in charge of requirement-definition and selection processes, with

Airbus Military Airbus Military was a business unit of Airbus, which was part of European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) from 2009 to 2013. The company was formally created in April 2009 by the integration of the former Military Transport Aircraft ...

eventually taking over the project.

Participants

* Aerospatiale (France) *

(Italy) *

(United Kingdom) * CASA (Spain) * Deutsche Airbus (Germany) *

OGMA Ogma () is a god from Irish mythology, Irish and Scottish mythology. A member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, he is often considered a deity and may be related to the Gauls, Gallic god Ogmios. According to the In Lebor Ogaim, Ogam Tract, he is the i ...

(Portugal) * SONACA (Belgium) *

SABCA SABCA () is a Belgian aerospace company. Its main sectors of activity are civil aviation, space and defence. SABCA was established during 1920. Presently, it is owned by the Belgian group Orizio, itself owned by the Société Fédérale de Par ...

(Belgium) * TAI (Turkey)

References

Sources

* * * {{refend Multinational aircraft manufacturers