Its bad news for the program which had very high hopes when it was launched but has stumbled since then. Theres something about multi-national aircraft programs that cause nothing but problems. That and the A-400 was originally conceived as a transport for a world in a Cold War and with a huge American company as part of the consortium. It emerged into a world that really didnt want to buy expensive air-lifters. Most of all in European NATO where they are scratching their heads at paying 3 times the cost of the latest C-130 to get only 33% more payload capacity.
Anyway NATO is dependent on America for air transport anyways whether they buy the A-400 or not and with the Cold War long over nobody in NATO, except for us, has any enthusiasm for big ticket projects. The bottom line is the A-400 just doesnt lift enough to justify the final price. Thats why over 300 C-130J's have either been ordered or delivered. For that matter almost 300 C-117s have also been delivered to customers. The last time I checked there were about 170 firm orders for the A-400 up to 2025, which I believe was conceived as the programs ending.
As an alliance we all really need this plane to sell and need to keep our lift capabilities relevant. The only thing that has kept the western Democracies out of a major war is strength and that strength is largely made up by airlift capability.
My condolences to the families of the crew. Lets hope this gets straightened out and the program put back on track.
