greybeard
no im not suggesting anyone attempt a Khe Sanh approach in an A330!
It wont do all the things a c17 can do but it will take a lot of the "routine" work from an overworked fleet, esp as it will have defensive systems as well
"They don't need 179 all same airplanes; otherwise they would have bought 500 KC-10A Extender in 1983, rather than just 60."
you are aware this order is only to replace the older kc135's, not the whole tanker fleet?
there's 2 more competitions after this
"Most of the differences between fleets of 767-200s and DC10-30s are nonstructural, and would go away in the conversion process."
your still looking at differant fleets, differant spares, a whole extra layer of expense if you have to order more than one type
"The fact is that second hand aircraft will become more difficult to maintain, are less efficient, will require expensive upgrades to maintain compliance with items such as GATM and will have a shorter operational life than new ones."
Agreed, to summarize though the initial "sticker shock" may be less with a second hand aircraft the whole of life cost will be higher