EADS: Canada unfairly requires planes that fly

No fair! That's what EADS is crying about Canada's requirement that it won't agree to buy aircraft until there's proof that the planes can fly as advertised.

The European aircraft manufacturer is competing with Lockheed Martin to supply Canada with military transport planes. EADS is upset that the Canadian Department of National Defence acquisition policy "stipulated that competing aircraft had to complete a flight test by the time the contract was awarded in summer 2007. That rule automatically eliminated the EADS Airbus A400M, which would not be available until 2008, leaving the [Lockheed] C-130J as the only option," DefenseNews.com reports.