2017-01-14 It is a new year and a new plane has arrived at the Orléans-Bricy airbase in France on January 6, 2017.
This is the 11th A400M for the French Air Force.
http://www.defense.gouv.fr/air/fil-d-actualite/le-11e-a400m-se-pose-sur-le-tarmac-de-bricy
As the squadron commander for the A400M noted in our 2015 interview:
One of the key advantages of the A400M will be that we can fly helicopters directly from France to the troops which we can not do right now.
We cannot ship the helos directly back to France, currently with our own assets.
With the A400M we will be able to do so.
A test and evaluation team is working the processes of how best to put helos into the plane and how to take them out.
We will save significant amounts of time, and time is a key element of combat success.
https://sldinfo.com/visiting-the-first-a400m-squadron-at-bricy-shaping-a-way-ahead/