Airbus wants to sell lots of A400M's to the US...

[Slater]

With a rather substantial fleet of C-17's, would the USAF have need of the A400M? I'm trying to see their line of reasoning here:

http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/2016/06/23/airbus-seeks-a400m-buyers/86290596/

[bentwaters81tfw]

Well the C-17 is now out of production, so supplementing the fleet with Grizzlys would keep the airframe hours down, and leave the C-130 for tactical use.

[Ascoteer]

I can't see the Ameicans buying what is a more expensive, yet inferior, airframe to C17.

Especially given that it's not a US product.

[Slater]

An A400M costs more than a C-17?

[stringbag]

An A400M costs more than a C-17?

Yep.. Just had a look on the Hannants web site..

Sorry. I couldn't resist.

[XV107]

For what it's worth:

http://ndupress.ndu.edu/Media/News/NewsArticleView/tabid/7849/Article/577555/jfq-75-theater-airlift-modernization-options-for-closing-the-gap.aspx

The author is a former C-130 pilot, sometime Dean of the School of Advanced Airpower Studies, Maxwell AFB, and retired as the Chief of the Doctrine and Policy Division, Air Mobility Command. AMC often seek his views on this sort of thing, and the A400M (option 2 in his list) shouldn't be seen as an impossibility. Equally, he would be the first to say (and does) that it doesn't mean that recognising that the A400M might be useful will stand any chance of translation into orders - the point being it isn't a pipe dream.

[magwitch]

An A400M costs more than a C-17?

The last C-17 customers (India, Qatar, UAE) paid about $190m/airframe. A400s have a sticker price of about $200m if you let the European tax payers eat the 20bn EUR development costs.

It's hard to see where the A400 could fit into the USAF acquisition plans. The C-130 replacement (Joint Theatre Lift) will almost certainly be a tilt-rotor and the C-17/C-5 replacement (Joint Heavy Lift) will be a jet. Neither of those programs will start in earnest until the mid 2020s. Given the nameplate capacity of the A400 line is 2.1 aircraft per month the A400 will be out of production by mid 2022 unless it gets more orders.

[Navy Bird]

“The US will be our target, but clearly not today,” Fernando Alonso, head of the company’s military aircraft division, told journalists June 20.

I didn't know that McLaren let their drivers moonlight.

Cheers,

Bill

[Graeme H]

“The US will be our target, but clearly not today,” Fernando Alonso, head of the company’s military aircraft division, told journalists June 20.

I didn't know that McLaren let their drivers moonlight.

Cheers,

Bill

Ahh The Fonz, here's here, he's there, he's everywhere

[Dave Fleming]

It's hard to see where the A400 could fit into the USAF acquisition plans. The C-130 replacement (Joint Theatre Lift) will almost certainly be a tilt-rotor and the C-17/C-5 replacement (Joint Heavy Lift) will be a jet. Neither of those programs will start in earnest until the mid 2020s. Given the nameplate capacity of the A400 line is 2.1 aircraft per month the A400 will be out of production by mid 2022 unless it gets more orders.

Have a read of XV107's link - the shortfall lies in the transport from the sort of hub a C5/C17 can land at to the frontline rough field where a C130 or JTL would operate to, but with larger items that a C130 can't carry in the short-medium term (so say 2020-2030) - unless something already operates out of Groom Lake, it's going to be 2035ish before a new airlifter enters service