Where the actual aircraft come from in this contract is down to the winning consortium and not the MoD.
Air Tanker will own the actual assets so it is in their interests to source the airframes in the cheapest possible manner thus maximising profit.
As the airframe provider in the deal it will be EADS who will be responsible for this sourcing.
There has been much talk about a mix of new build and second hand airframes, well good luck in finding second hand A330 aircraft, they are like rocking horse teeth! The fleet will need to be standardised so a mix is, in my view, most unlikely.
Now, I am not sure what the US final assembly line completion dates are like but surely it will be nothing but economical good sense for EADS (NOT the MoD for whom economical good sense seems to be on a par with science fiction) to maximise the throughput of the US assembly line and put an additional 14 non boom equipped airframes through?
There will be no pain for EADS or it's Airbus subsidiary as it just means final assembly in Mobile as opposed to Toulouse.
Interesting to see if this is a possibility.
Pr00ne
BTW;
WHAT is this US obsession with all Airbus products being French? The French make the nose sections for all and bolt some of the things together, they are as much British or German as they are French with the actual content of most, if they are fitted with RR engines, being over 60% British.