Some planes like the Lockheed C-130 Hercules are turboprop plans while there are many large commercial planes that use a jet engine.
What is the rationale behind why some large modern military plans rely on propellers.
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At subsonic speeds propellor engine are a decent bit more efficient than jet engines.
For large transport aircraft, efficiency is often times more important than being able to reach high trans sonic speeds, so propellors are a popular choice.
And as in the case of the A400M, the props can be used in counter rotating pairs, cancelling out prop torque and improving the handling of the aircraft
Props perform considerably better at low aircraft speeds, which is critically important for aircraft like the C-130 which is designed to be able to take off from dirt runways.
Propeller planes use *way* less fuel. Jet engines let you go a lot faster, which is important for a bunch of reasons. But if you aren’t in any hurry to get there, like maybe if you’re just carrying a bunch of cargo and it’s okay if it takes 18 hours to arrive, then propeller planes will save you a ton of money on gas.
They are very fuel efficient. Even a commercial aircraft like Q400 (bombardier aircraft; now under the ownership of dehavilland) can cruise around 600km per hour. Which is jet like speed. For short haul distance flights, they are very economical to fly and therefore have a reduced operating cost compared to jet engine aircraft).
Not really fair to discuss the Herc and “modern military aircraft”, as that beast has been flying since ten years before I was born, and I am closing in on 60.
Prop planes can land and take off on much shorter runways.
There have been loads of military actions where planes have landed on very short runways to insert troops and then take off again.
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