US aerospace group Northrop Grumman called on Monday for Berlin to join the company in working to salvage the failed multimillion-euro euro project that has threatened the political life of the country‘s Defence Minister.“We are completely behind the programme,” Northrop Grumman Vice President Janis Pamiljans told a German parliamentary committee investigating the collapse of the project in May as a result of cost overruns.
Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere has rebuffed calls to resign over the collapse of the project, aimed at outfitting US-made Global Hawks with sophisticated German sensors for aerial surveillance.
Instead, he has blamed his predecessors and subordinates for the fiasco surrounding the Euros Hawk.
De Maiziere has been called to testify this week before the committee, which is expected to report by August 31 – just weeks before Germany goes to the polls on September 22.
The EuroHawk, which was developed by Northrop Grumman in conjunction with the European aeropace company EADS, made its maiden flight in 2010.
However, officials realized that it lacked the modifications and documentation required if European aviation-safety authorities were to certify it as airworthy for Europe‘s crowded airspace.
An estimated 660 million euros (860 million dollars) was poured into efforts to modify the Global Hawk surveillance aircraft with German sensors.
Source: Europe Online