Really? The reports I’ve seen say that there is a proposal from some German politicians that Germany should try to sell some (maybe 10-12) of its A400M. I’ve not seen anyone suggest that Airbus has agreed to buy them back, & I doubt it would.

Airbus would probably act as an agent for the sale, but no more.

Germany To Take Only 40 A400Ms

The Bundestag’s budget committee is expected to follow a proposal made by the ruling coalition to use only 40 of the 53 A400Ms the country plans to order.

. . .

Thus, Germany will buy 53 aircraft but give 13 of them back to Airbus for remarketing.

That plan is almost certain to meet with resistance from the manufacturer and other A400M customers. Airbus would have to compete for export contracts with aircraft that were part of the launch order. While the company would still be required to start paying back the €1.5-billion facility to governments starting with the 185th aircraft delivery, that mark would be reached later if the 13 German transports were sold ahead of any new aircraft. Also, new industrial workshare issues could emerge based on the reduced German contingent of 40 aircraft.

I also can’t help but think (not for the first time with the F35) that some of the negative feeling toward the F136 is down to the fact that its not a wholly US venture.

or more likely that they’re current and former PW employees 😉

In a “cost plus fee” contract, there is no reason why PWA should refuse to make a timely correction.

yet that’s exactly what they did in the past

so excuse me for taking PW’s claims of being little choirboys with a grain of salt

So without the F136, P&W would have ignored the screech problem or would not have tried to fix it in a timely manner?

in the most aggressive manner possible

that’s what he says

F135 Beset By ‘Screech;’ Fix Found

GE’s often feisty spokesman, Rick Kennedy, was uncharacteristically soft-spoken in his email reply about how this would affect the program.

“Will it affect the debate? With Congress, GE/RR will use this is another example of how difficult it is to develop next-generation fighter engines. As you know, we believe the F136 — because it was developed later than the F135 and was specifically designed for the JSF — has inherent airflow advantages, and is demonstrating better temperature margins that translate directly into better performance and maintenance costs. That’s being played out in the test cells right now,” he said. Then he softened. “But beyond the chest pounding, the F136 and F135 are both going to continue to experience technical challenges. It’s the nature of fighter engines. And given the production volume anticipated for this single-engine F-35, you have a scenario incredibly similar to the F-16.” Then he hauled out the standard line from GE and partner Rolls Royce: “Putting the aircraft’s engines into a highly competitive environment is the only way these complicated technical problems — like screech or any other issue faced by P&W or GE/RR — is going to get fixed in the most aggressive manner possible.”

According to Pratt spokeswoman Stephanie Duvall, a fix has in fact been found. And she provided a fairly detailed description of the problem:

“During development testing of the F135 in the May 2009 time frame, P&W found that at low altitude and high speed, certain pressure pulsations occurred when operating in full afterburner. This phenomenon, known broadly in the industry as screech, has been addressed with design modifications that have been validated to eliminate the issue. The modifications include minor hardware changes to the fuel system, reduced aerodynamic leakages, and upgraded software. The design of these modifications benefited greatly from the tools and processes developed in the design of the F119 engine that powers the F-22. The F119 and the F135 are the only two production engines that have provided augmented, stealth capability. With the modifications identified and implemented, the F135 now provides full max augmented thrust throughout the flight envelope. For the SDD program, a kit has been developed that brings these modifications to the engines that are powering the flight test program. Two engines have been modified to date with the design showing excellent results. The production configuration is being validated this year in both the CTOL/CV and STOVL variants of the F135. Confident that the F135 was providing the full required thrust throughout the flight envelope was just one of many reasons the government certified the CTOL/CV engine for Initial Service Release (ISR) in March 2010 and the STOVL engine achieved ISR in December 2010.”