Airbus A400M Atlas

John wrote:

Not sure how old this story is, but in "Airforces Monthly" for November the Luftwaffe is to receive new C-130 Hercules to be operated by a joint French-German unit. I understood that the Atlas was seen as a replacement for the Hercules (isn't that the way the RAF view it?). Is there something the Hercules can do that the Atlas cannot?

For the French and Germans the A400M is a replacement for the Transall C-160

What the commentators are saying is that the A400M
1) is unsuitable for Special Forces Operations ( same as the RAF view)
2) There are many strips/situations in Africa where an Atlas would be inappropriate for "aid" missions

Note that some of this squadron is equipped for tanking where they say that some smaller reciever aaircraft would find tanking from a A400 or larger would be more difficult than necessary

For comparison

Sitacuisses and creators of original images, see "Source". [CC BY-SA 3.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Worth saying that this is a future capability, in 2021, the squadron should be ready for initial operations (Initial Operational Capability, or IOC),
and that by 2024 they should have achieved full operational capability (FOC).