France insists that it will go ahead with its A400M military air transport program despite inadequate initial orders, hoping to make the project cost effective by finding more export customers later. A market study by US companies says that the A400M will never be able to find enough customers to be cost-effective, and will probably not keep all of the customers it thinks it has wrapped up even now. The US study recommends abandoning the A400M program and that the seven participating nations buy mixed fleets of C-17s and C-130Js. --Stephen V Cole