This seems to make more sense - use a military contract to make a civil innovation viable, 7E7 gets made and Airbus are forced to innovate an A310/300 replacement.
The other option - kick the dead 767 horse made sense for Boeing's 767 line but not for USAF, especially as they don't need new tankers yet.
It will disappoint those Boeing heads who want to blame govt intervention for why the Airbus line wins orders.