Just buy A330MRTT off the shelf . . . problems fixed!
Problems started actually.
first production volume. The Boeing has built 93 KC46 as of January this year. Airbus has converted/built 62 A330MRTT in all its variants. With 82 units ordered so far.
The French are the largest buyer at 15 with the Brits as #2 at 14. A good number of the A330 MRTT were conversions not actual KC330 builds, But former airliners stripped down and turned into tankers with a verity of configurations . Some lack probes with just Drogues some lack Drogues. Some are still serving as passenger planes but with Political passengers well others are cargo planes. This means that although the A330 MRTT has been fairly successful it’s not a proper comparison. Because Airbus hasn’t been able to meet tha same criteria that Boeing has to for the KC45.
Where in all the KC45 have to be built to a single standard in large volume from scratch, Airbus is converting or building often to a different standard in batch orders.
Hypothetically if the USAF was to scrap the KC46 it would have 90 tankers to Order. As the contract was for 179 with 89 delivered. That would be a bombshell into Airbus. More than the entire Global sales of all configurations of the A330 MRTT. In order or delivered So Airbus’s standing order book would basically Quintuple and not one but two major delays would be created for the USAF.
The first would be as the USAF would be back of the line for KC330s. Its presence would however also badly affect any other potential buyers as the USAF order would take priority. Second as the USAF orders would have to be added to the A330 Production Line. As of December that’s an order book full to bursting. 1479 A330 CEO airframes on order new some 400+ NEOs. It’s likely that the first hypothetical KC330 wouldn’t be available for flight testing until the next decade. The number of possible buys in this scenario is so high that Airbus would be justified in opening a production line in the U.S. the OG KC45 plan had that at the Airbus facility in Mobile Alabama. However in the modern world that plans is building A220s and A320s. But that again isn’t an easy task as probably wouldn’t be possible before the middle of the next decade.
Thats just the Airbus side.
On the USAF side we would be looking at a mixed logistics system. The KC46 for half the fleet and the Hypothetical KC330 on the other half. With almost no commonalities between them. The KC46 uses PW 4062 (4000-94) turbo fans the A330MRTT would depend upon base model if a NEO then it’s a RR Trent 7000 if it’s a CEO maybe a PW 4170 (4000-100). A complete set of new maintenance and training system. Plus years of delays till deliveries and the volume of delivery would be reduced outing more stress on the existing fleets of residual KC135 and the KC46 as well as requiring more assistance from allied Air Forces for tanking missions.
The DOD would have to pay huge cancellation fee to Boeing and its suppliers.
Speaking of Boeing and fees… Boeing would make a huge stink as would its unions and that would bring in the States of Washington, Kansas, Texas, Illinois, South Carolina.
You would have Congress giving anyone in an Airforce uniform or DOD position higher than equivalent to an O4/GS12 a Colonoscopy on Capitol Hill. The massive shift in budget to pay for the new lines of training and equipment plus the fee would anger a President whom seems intent on taking a chainsaw to the budget. It would be a “YUGE” drama. “Great Television” poor performance.
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