SPECIAL REPORT - The incredible saga of Europe's A400M

BERLIN (Reuters) - The first shot to be fired at Europe's 21st century army plane came not from the barrel of a gun but a safety inspector's clipboard. In 2008, weeks after the first A400M troop transporter rolled off a gleaming new assembly plant in Seville, a group of inspectors travelled to southern Germany to scrutinise an important component for the plane's huge turbo-prop engines.

The inspectors were from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), an EU body responsible for certifying aircraft; they wanted to conduct a routine check of plans for the engine software. The A400M's maiden flight was already six months overdue, but in an industry which often measures delays in years, that was nothing much to worry about.