Specific Performance
Squirrel41, I laud your sentiments but, as ever with the law, it's not clear cut.
I don't know which law the contract (or contracts) is under. If it was English law, the remedy of specific performance would be available, but Courts are generally reluctant to order it and will not do so where they feel they cannot adequately supervise performance of the contract, or where the claimant would be adequately compensated in damages.
It would be interesting to see it argued out as to whether the A400M is sufficiently special that money damages and buying an alternative wouldn't be an adequate remedy. I suspect that argument would be unlikely to work. However, the damages for Airbus repudiating the contract would be very substantial (wasted expenditure, costs of sourcing alternatives on short notice, etc) and, added to the money they've thrown away getting the project to this point and abandoning now, would still add up to a very unattractive option.