Ummm, Airsound, I know some of you Brits know nothing about US geography, but Boeing has no operations in
COLORADO!!!
[hint for the unaware... Co is the standard abbreviation for the US state of Colorado]
Nor have I ever worked for any company associated with them in any capacity.
As for the cost issue... the C-17 cost has gone up ~10% since I last compared the two a few months ago, and the
€:$ exchange rate has shifted just a little in favor of the €, so the numbers are just a little further apart than before. That said, here are the most current data I could find:
A400M:
1 year ago:
Estimated unit cost was originally US$90M. The unit cost has since climbed to over US$156M (€100 million).
Airlifter Comparisons - Airbus A400M - Airbus Military - EADS A400M - Aerospace Technology - CASR Background - Canadian American Strategic Review - military cargo aircraft - Airlift Capability Project - ACP Strategic - ACP Tactical - military aircraf
Now:
The current unit price is estimated at EUR 145 million. But EADS wants to renegotiate this price to reflect much higher than anticipated development costs. Some estimates predict an increase of at least thirty per cent in unit price.
Op-Ed: The Case Against the A400M
C-17:
$327.9 million -- per unit cost
2010 Pentagon Spending Request | National Priorities Project
C-130J:
$89.8 million -- per unit cost
2010 Pentagon Spending Request | National Priorities Project
A-400M: current unit cost
€145 million; EADS wants to raise this, possibly up to ~€180 million.
C-17: current unit cost
€234.45 million (exchange rate 6/27/2009 Saturday .71570 EUR)
C-130J: current unit cost
€64.2 million
Still a little way to go, but with no certainty that there won't be a further demand for a price increase in the 2 (or more) years before production begins.
A split buy of equal numbers of C-130 & C-17 would cost
€298.66 million for 2 aircraft (1 of each), while 2 A-400M would cost at the absolute least €290 million, possibly as much as €360 million.
Also, the C-17/C-130J would be in production 2 years before the A400M... and the RAF is already experiencing problems with airlifter availability, aren't they?