A400M...Three missions in one...

Check out the plane here.

Of course its advertising but it gives a decent overview of the capabilities they claim it has and has some nice graphics to go along with it.  The "three missions in one" thing is kinda cool (although obvious and applies to virtually every cargo plane) and I like the effort.

What caught me by surprise?  The number of orders and deliveries.  174 ordered and 84 delivered?  Didn't think it was that many. 

One other thing.

I didn't know it was as fast as it is.  Mach .72?  I'm not an aviation guy but that seems kinda fast.  I could be wrong but maybe we need to take another look at this thing.

Speed and range.  If we're gonna re-conquer the Pacific we need speed and range...to include our airlift.