European governments have agreed a final funding deal for the 20bn euro (£17.3bn) programme to build a new military transport aircraft.
The A400M, built by aerospace firm EADS, has been dogged by uncertainties over technical specifications and pressure on defence budgets.
The seven launch customers are the UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey.
The defence project, one of Europe's largest, will create 10,000 jobs.
"The A400M is an emblematic programme which Europe could not abandon," Herve Morin, the French defence minister, told a news conference.
"Giving it up would have meant Europe saying it wanted to be dependent on the United States in the 21st century".
BBC News
