Franco-German push could unjam A400M talks | Reuters
Specifically:
"...The price of each plane would rise 20 percent to about 130 million euros."
Accepting these latest figures, you could procure roughly 18 C-17's for the price of the 25 A400m on order. Some other figures that are available:
The A400M can lift a maximum of 37 tons.
Range: 3,298 km (2,049 mi; 1,781 nmi) at max payload
(long range cruise speed; reserves as per MIL-C-5011A)
- Range at 30-tonne payload: 4,540 km (2,450 nmi)
- Range at 20-tonne payload: 6,390 km (3,450 nmi)
The C-17:
With a payload of 160,000 lb (72,600 kg) and an initial cruise altitude of 28,000 ft (8,500 m), the C-17 has an unrefueled range of approximately 2,800 nautical miles.
Aircraft mission completion success probability rate of 92 percent.
Based on these figures, we need only procure approximately 9 C-17's to match the airlift that 25 A400's could provide... Thereby halving the total procurement cost.
At a conservative estimate, you would save circa £1.4 Billion.
£1.4 Billion...
Not taking into account the fact that we already operate the Boeing.
Without any bias, the simple sums on A400m, do not add up.