GM. This isn't a "lets knock the A400" thread - the issue facing the TacAT fleet are the looming J fatigue issues and ever lengthening A400 delays. I'm not knocking the A400M - far from it, I'm quite a fan. It will be a superb bit of kit for all the reasons you state. Indeed, if I'm still alive when it turns up I'm still hoping to get on the Initial Cadre.
But, and it's a big but, someone, somewhere surely has to consider what the fall back is for if and when the A400 delays get too long and we face a gap in AT capability??
My argument is based around what we're going to do to plug the gap. The answer, in my opinion, is a stop-gap of "more of the same". FRES is, frankly, irrelevant in the argument because it is, realistically, as far off as the delayed A400 is. Yes, it would be nice to be able to put seats down next to pallets but it would also be nice if I had FLIR and TFR at the front. We have neither and it doesn't stop us doing what we do. Having to climb over CDS loads is just a fact of life; get the C17s to do it if it's all too hard (like the US do) and you could drive a car up and down alongside the loads if you wanted to.
There is no other realistic, OTS, medium-size airlifter available. We have what we have and have to make do. As the A400M slips further and further to the right what do you suggest we do? As I see it we either sit tight, weather the storm and just hope it'll be ok (this is what the MoD will do by the way) or someone bites the bullet and goes for an interim stop-gap measure to ensure that the good service the TacAT fleet currently offers to the front line is maintained.