Boldface,
Love the C-17, but like it or not it is 2 x A400M in weight and will cost more-or-less accordingly in purchase, maint and fuel. (Although I will bet that with the dollar where it is, and the production line where it is, if you went to Boeing and said you wanted 70 of them in the next four years, they'd give them away.) 600,000 pounds does not a tactical system make.
C-130... Grandpa, you've had a long career, but it's time to step aside. The problem is box size and payload, versus the increasing weight of military equipment. MRAPs and FRES and FCS and Strkyers don't fit.
A400M will have its problems. Just give thanks this Thanksgiving day that it is an aeroplane in existence, not what the US has today - an Army-driven requirement for a 30-ton-lift VTOL (
nonsense) that will soak up hundreds of millions and several years before it is scrapped.