DuckDogers . ."..that the government of the day purchased the right equipment for the job that is available and proven that it works very well indeed, i refer to the C17...". .. .Oh what traps our own logic sets for us... .Why does the 'right equipment for the job..' lead you inevitably to the C-17?. .. .European political development may yet come back to smite the A400M proponents across the face with a wet fish. Where will Germany go if the Airbus programme falls to pieces? Where will all the other nations go? Not everyone has the necessary moolah to go shopping in Long Beach and the An70 just continues happily completing its flight test programme and tooling up for production.. .Why spend 200 million usd, or is it 300 million these days, Beagle? for one C-17 when you could have 4 x An70 for that price? 4 simultaneous missions, 4 destinations, 4 x 47 tons payload..... .. .Liked your post of 26 Jan, Beagle.. .. .And on the subject of money for the C-17 deal. Anyone know just how much over the 3000 hours for the fleet has been knocked up so far? Anyone know the rate for the excess hours?. .. .Meanwhile, the An124 ploughs back and forth from BZZ and CGN to Bagram/Kabul carrying all the gear at peanut rates. Now there is a truly economical aircraft. When is it going to sink in that no European power, particularly the UK,would or could have gone anywhere requiring a passport for last 10 years without this aircraft. Oh, and guess who the latest regular customer is.. none other than Uncle Sam - who hasn't got enough airlift of his own.. .. .Brgds. .Lybid