Airbus A400M arriving at Farnborough Air Show 2010

[cthomann]

Nice, European Engineering taking off. Loved to see this one fly on a couple of days at Farnborough this week. Shame it went home on Thursday.

[michael19157]

Nice video. About the A400M, I really don't see how this airplane will be a success. It's purported competitive advantages seem very uncertain. Boeing's C-17 is well worth the extra purchase cost.

[stalkingalizee]

When you can buy 4 A400M for one C-17, it will be very competitive.

[michael19157]

@stalkingalizee / The C-17's average 220 million U.S. each. The A400M will probably end up in the 125 million dollar range. Regardless of the price, if Airbus can't achieve its lofty performance targets(3500 mile range, 504 mph cruise speed, and 80,000 lbs payload), prospective customers will disappear. 

[stalkingalizee]

The cost is over 500 million USD for both UAE and India so we will be able to export 4 A400M for one C-17, almost 5. Obama is cancelling the C-17 as it is too expensive. With the C-17 gone, A400M will be the only game in town unless Ukraine gets the An-70 working, but I have little faith in that happening.