The UK only bought the C-130J because its preferred transport wasn’t available, & wasn’t going to be for years. It preferred something bigger – as did Germany, France, etc.
The A400M was designed to meet the requirements of the countries in the A400M consortium. One of their most important requirements was that it have a bigger cargo box than the C-130, because their armies found the internal dimensions of the C-130 too restricting, & payload ditto.
Given that A400M was designed to a requirement the UK MoD helped draw up & was happy with, the UK government had paid a share of the development costs, & we (not only RR) make a big share of each one, why buy more of an aeroplane we only bought because the one we really wanted wasn’t ready?
We bought C-17s because of the deficiencies of the C-130 & lateness of A400M. But they’re expensive to run, none of the money spent on buying them comes back to the UK, & they are much more restricted in where they can land & take off than A400M. They’re a supplement, not an alternative.
Funny how I seemingly hear the same babbling from my kitty when she has just regurgitated her meal on the carpet: “it’s not me, it is your latest anorexic girlfriend “… Then guess what I do as the Taxpayer?
Like they said in an old sim game… “a pound of hamburger…”
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