Mousse,
I'm puzzled by your dismissive attitude to the 310 tanker.
Second hand 310s are snapped up very quickly, whereas second hand 767s seem to have rather easier availability.....
The A310 tanker is in service and has flown live refuelling missions with real receivers. The KC-767 has not.
The A310 boom is at about the same point in development/test as the 767 boom.
The A310 underwing pods were fitted without incurring major flutter problems, and thus without incurring the drag penalty of the 767's pylon mod.
The A310 can operate at full weight from a balanced 10,000 ft runway..... Shouldn't your esteemed rag be asking the question as to why the Italians are suddenly reported to be extending the runway at Pratica?
The A310 fuselage cross section is wide enough to accomodate standard pallets side-by-side - the 767's is not.
I'd have thought that the best option for the RAF would be to continue with the PFI (too late to cancel) for the nine A330s and to procure nine A310s to augment them - aiming for a rapid conventional procurement. 18 new tankers ought to be able to come close to replacing the VC10/TriStar AAR/AT capacity we had before they had to start cannibalising VC10s.