Today Volga-Dnepr reported that they won the tender to be the main airlift facility for NATO before 2009 when first A-400 are supposed to be fielded. However the contract may be prolonged if A-400 programs would see delays
The contract assumes that Volga-Dnepr will station two most modern An-124-100 Ruslan aircraft in LEIPSIG and would provide four more in a week notice. NATO will pay Euro 650mln annually for this service.
An-124-100 is the most recent upgrade of basic An-124, the largest aircraft ever mass produced. The new upgraded Ruslan is capable of 150 tons for 9,000 km - 50% advantage over its major rival C-17 Galaxy. Ruslan can cary cargo units of up to 6.7 meters in diameter - slightly larger than Galaxy can. Moreover, upgraded An-124-100 has better fuel efficiency than Galaxy, which did not see any major engine upgrades for the last 10 years.
The major short-comming of Ruslan and Galaxy is that it requires special airstips capable withstand landing of these 200 ton giants.
http://www.voldn.ru/eng/comp/fleet/an124/lth.php