February 18, 2008: Embarrassed by their
inability to provide sufficient transport aircraft and helicopters for military
operations in Afghanistan and Africa, the European Union (EU) are negotiating a
pool arrangement. This would entail EU nations with AN400Ms transports on order
(that's over 180 aircraft), committing some, or all, of them to a pool, that
any member could draw on for operations. The use of these aircraft would be
paid for through a lease type arrangement. Since NATO members use standard
protocols for aircraft crews, the pool users would get pilots who would fit
right in. A similar pool is proposed for transport helicopters. Many NATO
members already possess C-130s, which could be pooled right away. While the
C-130 can haul 20 tons, the A400M 37 tons, but the first one won't be delivered
until next year.
