Airbus tactics won't work for Airbus Military.

The A-400 is, at least to me, the weirdest airplane in existence.  Its marketed as filling a niche position between the C-17 and C-130...but at a cost of only a few million dollars less than a C-130 is it viable?

I personally don't think so.  To be honest if it wasn't a jobs program (a charge that can probably be leveled at the majority of weapon systems in development right now...at least by critics) it would be canceled.

But the business model is most annoying.  Airbus has for years waited for Boeing to develop aircraft and then plus sized them.  They did it with the 767 vs. the A330.  They did it with the 737 vs. the A320 and they're doing it with the 787 vs. the A350.

Fortunately for Lockheed Martin that same thinking isn't working in the competition for military orders.  The A400 will probably force Airbus out of the military aircraft market.  Boeing wins in the end.