Air Transportation: June 1, 2003

Archives

On May 27th, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Turkey, Belgium and Luxembourg agreed to buy 180 A400M military transports for $132 million each. Germany will get 60, France 50, Spain 27, Britain 25, Turkey 10, Belgium seven and Luxembourg one, instead of the tried and true (and constantly updated) U.S. C-130. The 130 ton A400M has a maximum payload of 37 tons. With a 30 ton payload, it can fly 4,400 kilometers, making it more similar to the C-17 than the older C-130. The A400M uses four turboprop engines. The latest model of the C-130, the 79 ton C-130J has a maximum payload of 20 tons. It's range is about 20 percent less than the A400M, but costs less than half as much. The 290 ton C-17 can carry up to 100 tons (including one M-1 tank) anywhere in the world because of in-air refueling. The C-17, however, costs $300 million each.

 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contribute. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   contribute   Close