Given the apparent cost anticipated for an A400M vs the cost of more C-17's, plus set up costs, is it not just as cheap to buy more C-17's rather than A400M's, as counterimntuitive as it may seem at first.
Well, yes...but an A400M will get into almost any strip a C-130 can, which is a lot more strips than a C-17 can get into! Plus, you may not always have C-17 size loads and distances to carry, so an A400M will take those at a more econimical rate.
Same argument applies for C-27J and C-130J.
