“As I've posted and linked several times, the C-130 is too small to carry the next generation of vehicles for either the UK armed forces or US armed forces”.
ORAC is spot on. This is inextricably linked to FRES. If FRES is delayed (which it is), the pressure on A400 is seen to ease, in certain quarters. Any delay does not necessarily mean problems with the project. It is normal practice to deliberately introduce what people think of as “slippage”, but is in fact sensible realignment. I’m not saying this is the case, but it’s common practice.
Those of you who can, read the FRES URD and see where the airborne dependencies are, and read the assumptions on aircraft availability.
Of course, this does not solve the immediate lift problems and perfectly illustrates the lack of cohesion and stovepiping in the MoD. There will be those who, having “realigned” A400 and FRES, will now simply walk away for a few years thinking “I can relax now” and have absolutely no regard for current operational requirements. And the C130 IPT will certainly view this as “slippage” as presumably they’ll have to find funds to extend life. They’ll probably find out about this by reading pprune!