'C17 v A400M' rather misses the point. It's like 'British beef' v. 'New Zealand lamb' - both very fine but not the same thing!
C17 is an excellent aeroplane but rather too big to replace C130K on a one-for-one basis. C130J is too slow and too small for many strategic applications, in my view, whereas A400M promises to be an excellent compromise if only the Tchermans would stop contemplating their navels and commit to the programme as they've always intended. It will be a veru Gucci aeroplane, 100kts TAS faster than the C130J and able to cruise at M0.7 in the mid-30s. It'll have a very state-of-the-art flight deck, something even Boeing admit that Airbooooos are very good at. Plus if it was fitted with 2 AAR pods it would have an AAR capability very close to that of the VC10....
Airbus v Boeing - ask Easyjet why they've gone for the A319 rather than more 737s? Right horse for that course!
Oh - and if you don't service an aeroplane properly, take-off well over your RTOW, suffer an engine failure near V1 and your FE shuts the engine down without being ordered whilst it's still producing thrust, then any aeroplane will be likely to crash whether Boeing, Airbus or Concorde.......