fesc - I am not connected in any way to the 'Airbus bid' of AirTanker (except as an enthusiastic supporter). My 'Airbus' work is as a part-time consultant on Konsortium fur MRTT, the A3
10 programme for the CF/GAF.
Perhaps unsurprisingly my TV has had Bloomberg on in the background today in anticipation of this important announcement which was widely expected. Most of my work I do on a PC; always-on ASDL means the not infrequent dipping into PPRuNe between hourly-paid work periods is quite straightforward, since you seem to be so keen to know what I do.
Back to the thread. To see AirTanker's press release, go to:
http://www.airtanker.co.uk/airtanker...tanker50.shtml .
Converting the A330 wing to take AR pods is a relatively straightforward design problem; they will be mounted on the outboard pylons hardpoints which exist on all A330/340 wings - they'll go where the A340 has its outboard engines! Neat engineering solution. A310MRTT, A330MRTT and A400M will probably use a common FRL 32-907 AR pod design - all of which is indeed good news for the European aerospace industry.