I really do not know Beags or what he is doing now, but I get the impression he is still kinda involved with military aviation somehow, so what better way of keeping an ear to the ground than through pprune?
With a bit of an A400M background, I can wholeheartedly recommend some time in Toulouse, and if one ignores all the ongoing commerical stuff, I can't imagine a more rewarding job than getting a new aircraft into the air. If only they wanted Blunties....
Never went to Seville, which was a shame.