France to buy C-130

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-21/french-to-fund-four-hercules-planes-following-airbus-a400m-delay

The French Air Force will buy four Lockheed Martin Corp. C-130 Hercules transport planes as it seeks to cope with the late delivery of Airbus Group NV A400M aircraft

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/b584dd34-ffd7-11e4-bc30-00144feabdc0.html

France revealed this week that it could buy up to four C130 Hercules military transport aircraft from Lockheed Martin of the US, as part of an increase in its defence budget.

The French defence ministry said that the air force needed to guarantee its capacity for air-to-air helicopter refuelling, a capability that could not be assured by the A400M.

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/articles-view/feature/5/160924/main-a400m-partners-due-to-meet-in-berlin.html

It looks unlikely that the A400M will ever be able to refuel helicopters in flight, Collet-Billon said, because of the strong propwash and induced instability generated by its large, contra-rotating turboprop engines. This is however a contractual requirement, and the capability should be delivered by 2017 or 2018.

The UK had planned to retire all their C-130Js, I wonder if this will impact them as well?